Posted on 07/23/2016 5:43:03 PM PDT by dynachrome
France will send artillery to Iraq and its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to assist the US-led coalition’s efforts in Syria and Iraq in the coming months, but will not deploy its troops in these countries, French President Francois Hollande said Friday.
France will also send artillery to Iraq in August to help the Iraqi army fight Daesh terrorists, the President added.
"The Defense Council and I made a decision this morning to provide Iraqi forces with artillery as a part of anti-Daesh efforts. The artillery will be delivered in August," Hollande said. The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will be sent to the region in September, the President added.
(Excerpt) Read more at sputniknews.com ...
Well, there were several wars against France in colonial times. The French and Indian War was the biggest, and it had an important effect on the settlement of the Midwest. But, if you refuse to count colonial wars (although they are part of our history) there was the Quasi-War against France from 1798 to 1800.
Nevertheless, that’s all water under the bridge, and we should be working with other Western countries now to counter terrorism. Of course, the number one thing each of our countries should do is protect our own borders.
So, Vive le France!
IIR weren’t many of the weapons stockpiles we captured throughout Iraq made in France? Didn’t they make a bunch of snide comments after 911that made us stop importing their wine and stuff? Didn’t they practically destroy Texas Instruments through govt sanctioned industrial spying in the 80s? I think in reality France has mostly been their own best ally and worst enemy.
“this country has been very poorly led for decades by our corrupt and incompetent politicians of both parties.”
Absolutely correct, and I hope we can at least start to make a difference this November.
During World War II there were the FREE FRENCH under de Gaulle, and Vichy France. The French underground rescued many Americans shot down and spirited them out of France through Spain and Portugal. The French Resistance was largely responsible for our success in Normandy and thereafter including operation Cobra and were of indispensable assistance to Patton’s 3rd Army in his blitz through Brittany.
Just Prior to D-Day, the Maquis, (French underground,) went into action and delayed the 2nd Panzer Division, Das Reich, who were stationed in Montauban in south-western France for several days with their sabotage operations. Das Reich should have reached Normandy in three days, but the earliest arrived in a week and the stragglers arrived up to three weeks later so badly beat up they were of little use. Those delays bought time for our forces to establish the beachhead and move inland. Eisenhower commended the Maquis afterwards with a glowing report. Patton was very outspoken about the great help he received from the French. The Luftwaffe was totally decimated by the time D-Day arrived so was of no threat. I am hard pressed to find any instance that France was not on the battlefield at our side with the exception of Iraq. Chirac had dealings with Saddam in the car industry and did not want to upset the applecart. Knew him, didn’t like him.
Thank you. I am very fond of the French people. They have always been very kind and generous toward me...oftentimes simply because I am an American. I could tell a thousand tales...
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m generally in agreement with your position that the United States and France on an official level have been sympathetic to each others’ existence since the late 1700s, except for a brief window Dec.11,1941 to 1944 or so.
It been undergoing technical maintenance since it was launched.
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It did have some problems in the beginning which were ironed out. EVERY ship returns to home port periodically for maintenance and resupply.
When I was in Europe in the late 70s, the Belgians really loved Americans and would often give you free beer and food once they knew you were from Minnesota! Late 70s Europe was awesome on the free side, bummer for those trapped behind the Berlin Wall.
Tell me how many ground troops we now have in Iraq. Who pulled them out and why?
America should send the USS Gerald Ford in it’s place. That ship
works perfectly.
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And then you could complain that the French were doing nothing. I don’t think you’re smart enough to be a “stupid frog.”
By the way, why don’t you ask the British why their oh so wonderful new destroyers can’t stand the heat of the gulf? I’ve heard that at least four have had terrible maintenance problems and eight are perhaps in trouble. Rolls Royce says they weren’t designed for extended stays in warm waters.
Funny how the Brits are never flogged with criticism.
Roger that.
Seems to me you lost a lot of years. You stated they were our first opponent in war. Whatever happened to the British and King George the Third?
Then there is the case of which Barbary War. There were two wars with the Barbary Pirates. The First, 1801-1805 was Thomas Jefferson’s war.
Then we were back at war with England 1812- 1815.
Then in 1815 we sent Commodore Stephen Decatur to teach the pirates a lesson. He did!That was the second Barbary War.
Where in all this do we go to war with France?
The runup to Operation Torch and the intricacies of Operation Flagpole and following operations to retrieve General Giraud from house arrest in France and spirit him to North Africa to negotiate with the French is an intriguing and compelling story. I have almost finished writing a book on the subject. It should be published just before Christmas.
By the way, the American State Department knew nothing about Operation Torch. Roosevelt demanded that there be complete silence on the subject because he said the State Department was “Like a sieve.” Seems times have not changed!
Another side note. We landed in North Africa with complete knowledge of the terrain, locations of fortifications, strong points, underdefended points, etc. All this information was supplied by THE FRENCH, supposedly under control of Admiral Darlan of Vichy France.
Fascinating, Non?
I think you know very little about France. I was in France on 9/11. Nobody can imagine the sympathy and support I received from the French people. I have a hundred stories i could tell. One stands out as particularly touching. A Frenchman stopped by my atalier with a flower for me. I had never seen him before. With tears in his eyes he mourned the loss of American lives in the Twin Towers. Then he recounted being a boy when we landed in Normandy. His family took shelter in the cellar under their house. As the bombs fell from our planes his mother told the children to not be afraid, that they were hearing the sounds of Freedom, the Americans were coming. Later, he was given a chocolate bar by an American soldier and it was the first time he had ever tasted chocolate. Then he told me, “Of course I have long since eaten the chocolate, but I still have the wrapper.”
I received assistance in a thousand ways in the time I spent in France. Many times it was from perfect strangers and simply because I was an American. It grieves me to hear such ridiculous and outrageous comments about a beautiful people such as I often see here.
and the French warned us to stay out of Vietnam.
Thank you, but I’ll remind all we did not become the United States of America until 1776, AFTER the French and Indian Wars during which we were British subjects.
Vive la France!
Wholeheartedly agree with you both.
Fascinating yes.
Not only did the Allies have superior intelligence, but superiority of equipment, and lots more of it.
Actually, on November 8th of 1942 when we went ashore in North Africa, we were still in diplomatic relations with Vichy France. A Technicality few are aware of. The French were mad at the Brits for bombing their fleet and operation Torch was under the command of General Patton to give it an American “front.”
In reality, the French paid dearly for our invasion of North Africa. Vichy France was the Free Zone of France, unoccupied by the Nazi soldiers. Immediately after our invasion of North Africa (Casablanca and Algiers) Hitler sent troops to occupy ALL of France. The entire country was then under German rule.
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