They Hoped?
By sideways | Related entries in Foreign Policy, Israel, The War On Terrorism
I never defend the UN, but I have in the past defended the French. And I had hopes for Condoleezza Rice.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 17 — France has rebuffed U.N. pleas to make a major contribution to a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, setting back international efforts to send a credible military force to the region to police a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, according to U.N. and French officials.
French President Jacques Chirac instead committed Thursday to send a relatively small military engineering company of 200 soldiers to serve in a reinforced U.N. peacekeeping mission that is expected to grow to 15,000 strong and that will help Lebanon police a demilitarized zone in southern Lebanon. He also said that a force of 1,700 French troops and crew stationed in ships off the coast of Lebanon could be sent in to help the U.N. force during a crisis.
The French decision, which was first reported today in the Paris daily Le Monde, has thrown U.N. military planning into disarray on the eve of a major international meeting this afternoon of potential contributors to a U.N. force. It also seriously complicates U.N. efforts to get a vanguard force of peacekeepers from powerful European countries within the next two weeks.
Senior U.N. peacekeeping officials said they had hoped that a commitment to have French troops form the “backbone” of the U.N. peacekeeping mission would spur other countries to join.
The UN had hoped? Had hoped? This wasn’t worked out in advance? The UN’s diplomats, the French and Condoleezza Rice and John Bolton didn’t have this signed, sealed and delivered? Are you f—ing with me? We stopped this war and we didn’t even have a plan in place for a peacekeeping force? Is that possible? Is everyone involved in this a liar, a coward or an imbecile? (You can choose more than one.)
They hoped? And on that basis they imposed a defeat on the Israelis and salvaged Hezbollah? I mean, honest to God, as low as my expectations are, this is quite simply incredible.
If the French are backing out of a done deal then Condi needs to come out and say it publicly. Otherwise she really needs to quit. Either the French are acting like backstabbing liars, or our State Department is setting a new low for incompetence. It’s one or the other.
They hoped?
Cross-posted from Sideways Mencken.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 17th, 2006 and is filed under Foreign Policy, Israel, The War On Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 17th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
The French backing out of a fight and leaving their allies stranded on the proverbial beach? Maybe Condi blew this one, but on the other hand, this is pretty much SOP for the French.
August 17th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
No friend. When you have an incompetent Israeli Government that is setting new records for how to screw up a military campaign, you do what Condi did, call halftime.
War continues in the Second Half under new IDF Coaching Staff. This resolution not designed to succeed. You were expecting Shi’a National Socialist Movement in Southern Lebanon to buy seats on the board of Women’s American Ort, perhaps?
Try to understand that Condi knows she is inviting Reinhard Heydrich to Bat Mitzvah. In next round, IDF takes out irritating Boy President of Damascus who right now is fantasizing about starting his own Hezboallah Franchise to take back Golan. Like McDonalds. Nasrallah finds out he’s not so Butch; out on street with tin cup. Local Arab Sunni Oil States treat him like dogdirt for consorting with Persian invader. You watch, you see.
August 18th, 2006 at 2:43 am
I agree with Brian. This is sop for the french. I’ve seen it before. Condi not coming out and saying it is probably just a way of trying to keep a bad situation from becoming worse.
OTOH… Was a truce between Hezbollah and Israel something Bush & Co. really wanted? If not, then Condi is no incompetent. She played the french like a fiddle, knowing she could rely on them to backstab.
It just depends on who REALLY wanted the fighting to stop and who didn’t.
August 18th, 2006 at 9:16 am
“And on that basis they imposed a defeat on the Israelis and salvaged Hezbollah?�
A cease fire occurs because both sides think it is in their favor. Do you really think that Israel would have stopped if they thought they could win? It was becoming obvious that they would have to re-occupy Lebanon, an that was something they didn’t want to do.
As for the French, I would bet that the warring parties make certain agreements, but when it came time to pony up they reneged. Unless both parties agree to stop fighting you have to insane to get between them. Something changed in the dynamics of the cease fire. It will probably be a couple of months before we find out what that “something� was.
August 18th, 2006 at 10:07 am
How many French troops does it take to defend Paris?
No one knows, it’s never been tried.
August 18th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
This is just the problem with the UN always having to do this stuff on the fly. They need an permanent peacekeeping force that is always available, with countries annually guaranteeing to make a certain number of troops available for any mission.
August 18th, 2006 at 7:48 pm
I was going to write and say that there might be some sense to what seciton 9 is saying above. That this is window dressing to give Isreal time to re-adjust their strategy before the conflict starts back up.
Then I read about the money that Hezbollah (Iran) is pumping Southern Lebannon. If this is a timeout, Hezbollah is using it very wisely. Their base and support in Southern Lebannon is likely more secure now as a result. While the UN was dithering they were puting foot to pavement (rubble) and winning heart and minds.
August 18th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
A few notes:
A UN peacekeeping force is neither a force nor does it keep peace. In general it just flounders there uselessly and rapes the indigenous peoples, while avoiding criticism from newspapers who, just as they treat communists and dictators (all communists are dictators, but not all dictators are communists), believe the ideals of the UN nullify the evils perpetrated by it. I’d trust the local NRA 142 to do the job better than anything sent in blue helmets. They are better armed, better trained, and have a moral backbone.
Honestly we should have just supported Isreal to the hilt. It isn’t like the UN can do anything but shriek “CEASEFIRE” like scared schoolgirls. What would they do? Send an army to stop the IDF from beating the snot out of Hezbollah? Don’t make me laugh. The only thing the UN does is create paper tigers called resolutions that are misnamed, as they have never resolved anything, and are patently ignored by the dictators and terrorists they apply to within an hour of their signing.
Isreal will fight the war the UN, and sadly, America, won’t fight. Isreal realizes their very lives and society are at stake and if they fail, Isreal will cease to exist. If only we had the fortitude of Isreal and wern’t held back by all this politically correct nonsense, we could win this war. The Nazis and the Japanese wern’t defeated by political correctness and half-assed fighting with calls for diplomacy, they were defeated by outright slaughtering them wherever we could untill they gave up, and we had to nuke Japan twice before they gave in, after expulsing them from cames by sending Flamethrowers down there.
Osama as much said so himself: Cause American casualties and America will cut and run, cut and run, cut and run… or, as Murtha would tell us: “Selectively redeploy”, or “Build a Timetable for Withdrawl”.