Alice in Afghanistan
Are the lives of French troops more important to their government than U.S. fighters are to Washington?
The killing of four French soldiers, and wounding of at least 12 more, led President Nicholas Sarkozy to order a stop to training of Afghan soldiers and police.
Six Americans died in a helicopter Thursday. Washington seemed to think it was some comfort that the chopper probably was not shot down, but crashed due to a maintenance problem or pilot error.
Please don’t trick yourself into thinking the reason President Obama isn’t taking an action like Sarkozy is because we our soldiers are better than the French.
Remember the French Navy made it possible for us to become independent. And then of course there is Napoleon. He took Moscow, something the Nazis couldn’t.
French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet was ordered to Afghanistan immediate. “As part of a drive inside the base that gunman shot, killed four of our soldiers in conditions that are unacceptable , he said. “They were not armed, they were murdered by an Afghan soldier.”
American and other NATO forces have suffered similar losses, betrayed by people we are trying to help. The fact is many of these people consider us invaders and themselves heroes.
"I can not accept that Afghan soldiers fired on the French soldiers " , said Sarkozy . The question of an early return of the French army was raised, he told Le Monde.
"If the conditions of security are not clearly restored, then the question of an early withdrawal of the French army would arise," Sarkozy said. "The French army is in Afghanistan at the service of the Afghans against terrorism and against the Taliban. The French army is not in Afghanistan so that Afghan soldiers can shoot at them," the Guardian reported.
The Guardian also reported that research commissioned by the U.S. showed the lack of trust with NATO and the Afghan people probably will mean more ambushes.
Perhaps Sarkozy’s actions could partly be tied to his re-election bid. The wars are barely an issue in America, distracted by unemployment, the Internet, entertainment and hijinks by its political parties.
“A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view,” said Napoleon.
Army Times reported increasing attacks by our so-called allies.
“We believe that they do appear to be increasing in frequency in recent months. What we cannot discern is a cause for that. We also don’t believe this is an endemic or systematic problem,” Navy Capt John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Friday.
Follow Technorati