France is Fredo

What can you say about the French?

How do you say "bunch of wimps extraordinaire" in French?

They pushed for an immediate ceasefire between Irsael and Lebanon/Hezbollah/Iran.

The French promised to lead the UN peacekeeping force, but now they are wimping out as usual.

From The Ottawa Citizen:

France had led calls in the council for an early ceasefire in Israel's bid to disable Hezbollah, persuading the U.S. that the militia group could be prevented from regrouping through the rapid deployment of 15,000 UN troops in support of 15,000 soldiers the Lebanese Army planned to deploy.

France let it be known it would also lead the force. But at a multi-national meeting Thursday of potential troop contributors, also attended by Canada, France offered to deploy only 200 soldiers to the 3,500 the UN wants in place by Aug. 27.

France is a disgrace.

200 soldiers. 200!

Gee, France don't overextend your military. We wouldn't want you to do that.

Unbelievable.

The country isn't in the same league as the Axis of Evil nations, but it certainly belongs in the Axis of Annoyance or Axis of Disloyalty.

France cannot be trusted.

For now, the biggest offers for the force have come from Bangladesh, 2,000, and 1,000 each from Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal, prompting Israel to react with skepticism about some of the volunteers.

"It would be very difficult if not inconceivable for Israel to accept troops from countries who do not recognize Israel, who have no diplomatic relations with Israel," Dan Gillerman, Israeli ambassador to the UN, told the BBC.

He explained Israel would be "very happy" to accept troops from Muslim countries with which it has friendly relations.

However, he told the Associated Press the participation of "countries who are hostile to Israel or do not recognize Israel's right to exist would be unthinkable."

He noted that the Malaysian foreign minister was quoted as saying recently that Hezbollah should be rearmed.

Mr. Malloch Brown indicated Israel has no official say in the nationalities of the troops it dispatches to the region. But he added seeking general approval was a matter of "good form in peacekeeping."

Well, why not just dispatch some forces from Iran or Syria while you're at it?

This Malloch Brown guy is an absolute dolt. I'm not engaging in name-calling. That's a well-reasoned assessment.

Naturally, The New York Times acts as an apologist for France and all the other "Speak softly and carry NO stick" European nations that are so quick to make demands, but then fail to contribute.

Thom Shanker writes:

As leaders in world capitals this weekend review United Nations planning documents for a peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, they are weighing whether the stated goals are clear and achievable and whether the rules of engagement will allow them to accomplish the mission and protect their forces.

Diplomats involved in the negotiations acknowledged that efforts to create a peacekeeping force were lagging in part because of the reluctance of governments to introduce troops into a part of the Middle East with deep, unresolved political and religious conflicts.

Cowards.

It's the unresolved political and religious conflicts that are the root causes of the violence.

DUH!

That doesn't mean that these European nations, like FRANCE, can just wimp out on their promises to be part of the peacekeeping force in Lebanon that they agreed to man.

But they said there were also hurdles beyond that concern, particularly in France, which surprised diplomats by pledging only 200 soldiers to the new force. About 50 French military engineers arrived in Lebanon on Saturday to prepare for their arrival.

Terrorist attacks drove American and French troops from Lebanon once before, in 1983.

Yeah. So?

That's no excuse.

We're fighting the War on Terror. The U.S. didn't fail to engage after 9/11 just because Hezbollah slaughtered 241 of our troops in 1983.

The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because deliberations over the force were continuing, said that another issue slowing the formation of the peacekeeping mission was the experience of the failed Balkans effort of the 1990’s, when European and other foreign troops wearing the blue helmet of the United Nations were shackled by an unwieldy chain of command that split responsibilities between national commanders and United Nations officials in New York.

Shanker claims that diplomats "spoke on condition of anonymity because deliberations over the force were continuing."

I don't buy that.

They leaked to Shanker because they wanted a lib to give justification for their reneging on their pledge to contribute troops to UN the peacekeeping force.

Further, their exact mission was never made clear in that violent sectarian conflict, resulting in an ineffective and humiliating effort that failed to halt forced expulsions and mass murder and rape.

“We have to learn from the mistakes of the past, and so we do not want to revive two precedents,” one French official explained in a telephone interview late Friday.

“First was the U.N. forces in Yugoslavia, where in fact they were completely caught in a war in a passive way. We want to have something a little more aggressive in this regard.

“We also want to avoid what happened in 1983,” the official said. “We are definitely willing to keep our support for Lebanon and help the Lebanese regain sovereignty. But we cannot put our soldiers in such a harm’s way that it will become a mission impossible.”

If France learned from the 1983 incident that it didn't want to commit forces, then why did it promise that it would?

What kind of support for Lebanon is France talking about? If they won't send a significant number of troops, if they don't want to get involved militarily, what will they do to give support?

Exactly what is France's idea of support?

Cheese?

Wine?

How about berets?

Will that help the "Lebanese regain sovereignty"?


The bottom line: France has reneged on its promise to play the lead role in the UN peacekeeping force.

...Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed to European countries in particular to supply troops for the Lebanon force.

United Nations officials and American military officers describe the importance of a major nation taking the lead to create momentum for others to contribute; some call it “The Godfather” model.

Using The Godfather model, France is Fredo.

France will stab its allies in the back. France is weak.

I did feel sorry for Fredo. I have no sympathy whatsoever for France.