From Yahoo:
France faced criticism in the European press for not offering more troops for southern Lebanon, which was seen as jeopardizing the UN force’s difficult task of imposing peace.
Despite expectations that France would provide the bulk of a planned 15,000 strong UN force, Paris said Thursday it would send 200 troops to reinforce the UN mission in Lebanon.
“For France to have retreated from a key role to the realm of ’symbolic’ gestures ’symbolises’ only one thing: a French loss of nerve,” [The Times of London] said Friday after having previously praised French efforts to find a solution to the crisis.
Resolution 1701 calls for Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon in tandem with the arrival of Lebanese troops to the Hezbollah heartland and a beefed-up UN force.
While France said it was prepared to command the enlarged force, it also called for safety guarantees for its soldiers before making further commitments. That’s right - “safety guarantees” for its military. Something like “France agrees to go into the area as long as everyone promises not to shoot at us.” One wonders if Eisenhower asked for safety guarantees before sending his troops into Normandy to save France from the Nazis.
I am sure the Islamofascists will be more than happy to give them all the guarantees they want. Afterall, they have always honored their peace agreements with infidels in the past.
Paris has come under criticism for sending just 200 soldiers to the expanded UN deployment mandated under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 agreed August 11 that set out the terms of ceasefire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military. Apparently France, the former colonial power in Lebanon, is unwilling to send military troops into an area that could see actual military action. France learned long ago that bullets hurt, and symbolic gestures are about as aggressive as they perfer to be. Retreat is another option Paris is ready to explore, even a retreat before any troops have actually landed.
The deployment is far below what was expected from France when it co-wrote the UN resolution with the United States calling for a combat-ready UN force of up to 15,000 troops to bring peace to southern Lebanon. Seems that French pens are stronger that French swords. Sure, says France, let’s send 15,000 troops into the area - just as long as none come from France. Perhaps we could ask Iraq to send 10,000 troops?
The Le Monde newspaper said Paris’ apparent U-turn was due to fears over “reprisals from Syria or Iran”, which both support Hezbollah. French military forces, it has been discovered, might have to perform genuine military actions, something not allowed by Paris officials.
France was once the most powerfull empire in the face of the earth. Napoloen’s armies marched across Europe and won countless battles. And now they have been reduced to “Oh, we don’t want to get hurt”. How the mighty have fallen.
France wants “safety guarantees,” only to provide 200 out of 15,000 troops, and they want to command the force. There’s arrogance, breathtaking arrogance, and then there’s the French.
Facing a new, militant tone from Damascus and Tehran — as well as a Beirut government that is too weak to confront the strengthened Hezbollah — France is hesitant about sending soldiers. France recently noticed on CNN that Hezbollah uses guns that go -bang- and bombs that go -boom- and great fear and trepidation have set in.
But in France’s defense it has to be noted that, in the past, UN-led forces proved to be a failure, in some cases a total disaster, with field commanders needing to consult the elephantine bureaucracy of the United Nations and are unable to take decisions without consulting the glass building. Military failure is nothing new to the UN. The primary mission of the UN is to bolster oppressive militants, not to bring them down.
If Paris does not stump up more soldiers, “its decision cannot but contribute to bring us a step back, with the rearming of Hezbollah, which will wait for an opportune moment to restart its hostilities,” a senior Israeli foreign ministry official said.
