jawa.mee.nu

August 25, 2006

Lebanese Peacekeeper Roulette

I give up. First I heard that France would be sending 'thousands' of peacekeepers to Lebanon. Then I heard that President Chirac decided to send only 200 troops because a large number of troops would be too big a target.

Then I heard that ten French troops actually showed up on the Lebanese shore from a French warship. Later, that number was revised to fifty and called an advance engineering force and Chirac upped his contribution to 400 troops total.

There was so much criticism that it was then reported that France committed to sending 2,000 troops to Lebanon, which was revised downward to 1,600 troops, then bumped up to 1,700.

Now I hear that Chirac is back to the 400-troop level and he considers a peacekeeping force of 15,000 to be excessive.

Frankly, I beginning to believe that French President Jacques Chirac has one of those magic 8-balls. Prior to making a public statement he shakes it and it tells him what to say.

Meanwhile, with presumably more reliable information, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said today that he would initially send 302 peacekeeping troops with the number rising later to 394.

As a result, it's impossible to chart progress toward the deployment of an actual peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

Companion at Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 08:50 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 217 words, total size 2 kb.

1 The real limiting factor for the French is the number of white flags they can produce. After the last set of riots in France, the entire stock of flags was used up by the French police.

Posted by: old_dawg at August 25, 2006 09:16 AM (mvlLy)

2 I believe he is actually converting troop levels from metric to imperial units and back. Sometimes if this is done incorrectly, the number will come out wrong.

Posted by: SeeMonk at August 25, 2006 09:37 AM (7teJ9)

3 To add further to the confusion, don't forget the Italians. When the French got cold feet, Italy offered to send 3,000-4,000 troops. Then France went back to 2,000. Yesterday I read someplace that France and Italy are now squabbling over who is going to LEAD the mission, with France saying they believe they have been designated by the UN, and Italy's new socialist prime minister saying "no way", Italy had been told they could lead the mission by the US - NOT the UN, the US! Go figure. By the time the UN and the Euroweenies get anything done, there will have been three more wars in the middle east. Reminds me of the Tsunami - while the US and Australian militaries set up hospitals and delivered relief supplies, the UN sent a sizeable delegation to secure suitable hotel accomodations for a conference on how to organize a relief effort.

Posted by: geobandy at August 25, 2006 10:00 AM (a8MXW)

4 French delaying just to explore possibly of sending French contingent to Lebanon Kansas without appearing too Polish.

Posted by: hondo at August 25, 2006 10:01 AM (XrexX)

5 This is all a farce anyway, because no force that is sent into Lebanon, short of the IDF, is actually going to take steps to stop Hezbullah. Europe has become militarily irrelevant, and is on its way to political irrelevancy, and soon, to cultural extinction. The longer our elected idiots continue to play this game, the stronger our enemies become and the weaker we become.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at August 25, 2006 10:10 AM (v3I+x)

6 Excellent point, IM, and I'm curious to know the last time someone in W. Europe, other than Great Britain, fired a shot in anger. Other than at an uuarmed African in France's case.

Posted by: jesusland joe at August 25, 2006 10:17 AM (rUyw4)

7 These are the same unserious jokers that were saying Bush was in a "rush" to get rid of Saddam.

This con game won't be forgotten next time Israel is pounding south Lebanon and the euro-clowns are calling for a ceasefire.

Posted by: Jesusland Carlos at August 25, 2006 11:25 AM (iDabT)

8 Positive News

See: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=75012

"He said the army had confiscated a cache of missiles found in a warehouse three days ago."

This is the Lebanese Army - They may be eaget to get thier country back!!!

Posted by: Abraham at August 25, 2006 12:11 PM (jHym7)

9 I don't get it? You're not seriously calling into question the wisdom and legitimacy of the Magic 8-Ball, are you?

Posted by: Granddaddy Long Legs at August 25, 2006 12:17 PM (q73o1)

10 The answer to JJ's question:
Germany: WWII
France: Algeria (1950-60 period)
Denmark: WWII (lost to Germany)
Holland: Ditto
Belgium: Sometime in the early 1800's (I think)
Spain: 1930's Civil War (won by Germany)
Portugal: Do they have an army?
Italy: WWII (beaten by Ethiopia)

Posted by: old_dawg at August 25, 2006 02:28 PM (mvlLy)

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