Nov 18 2006
The Whimps Of NATO
It seems those brave NATO forces trying to stabilize Afghanistan are pretty much just for show since they refuse to engage the enemy:
The NATO-led force in Afghanistan would be more effective if member countries lifted restrictions that prevent their troops from fighting insurgents in the country’s restive south, a senior Canadian officer said Saturday.
Many of the 37 troop-contributing nations serving with the 31,000-strong force have refused to join the fight against Taliban and other insurgents in the south, leaving the task to Canadian, American, British and Dutch soldiers.
The French, German and Italian forces patrol relatively quiet sectors in the north under self-imposed limitations, known in NATO as “caveats,” that keep them out of combat operations.
Obviously this is a version of the Democrats Phased Surrender – Redeploy gambit where you show off defending the country by marching around in regions where there are not threats, hoping the awesomeness with which the soldiers march is enough to deter attack. We should call this the Peacock manueaver – where military might is conveyed by waving the guns around in the air. It has the benefit of doubling as phased retreat by simplying appending a white cloth to the end of the weapon as it is waved. Very French!
And I believe the Sudan recently agreed to let UN troops come in to help Darfur. I’m sure they requested The French, German and Italian forces as I understand they bring their own white flags with them. I understand the French also take their rapists with them also.
I can hardly wait to hear how many US troops go there.
Hey and I like those goose stepping Iran troops and N. Korean troops especially the women’s brigade (no I’m not putting down women in military). don’t that goose stepping just terrify you?
NATO has peace keeping forces, the kind that sit around and watch what is happening. No wonder Rummy had no confidence in old Europe. The forces that are fighting needed the same kind of help that the Iraq’s need from us. The men came but with no way to get around, no choppers, no air support. I’m thankful for those who fight, but those who are moralists, disparaging and critical of this nation, can go to hell. And the French had the audacity to say they would shoot down an Israeli plane if they didn’t stop patrolling the Lebanon border. I just don’t have words for these guys that is fit to print.
Strata
Har har de har har. Notice the extra har har?
Now let me dismantle your flimsy argument in one fell swoop.
“The American forces have been ‘marching around in Iraqi
regions where there ARE threats for more than three and a
half years….conveying their military might by FAR MORE than
waving their guns around in the air.”
The result? The insurgency is bigger than ever, Anbar Province,
Iraq’s largest , is still controlled by it and the crucial Baghdad and the pivotal Sunni triangle is in a state of anarchy. Very Vietnam,
very American!
If there are French regulars there, then France is not serious. They only deploy the Foreign Legion to places where someone might get hurt.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/18/iraq.blair/index.html
The dam is cracking , Strata , as Blair seems to admit the invasion of Iraq was and is a disaster.
One good thing is that Chirac is toast and France gets new leadership in 2007. If Sarkozy gets the job, we might find France growing a backbone.
Oh, and didn’t Sudan and the UN just reach some kind of agreement on Darfur?
BBC story
Looks to me like the “agreement” was just the opening for a new offensive. NATO is toothless, the UN is toothless, anything Europe touches is toothless. I can’t for the life of me understand why we still think Europe is so important strategically.
Is it possible that all this anti American animosity in Europe is because they do not want to have to spend their money and send their young men to help defend the US under their NATO obligations? As Ann Coulter aptly said, “We protected their sorry asses for over 50 years” and when it comes time for them to reciprocate, they turn on us and blame it all on us. We have allowed them to become cowards who depened on us. They are incapable of defending themsleves. Why should we expect them to be able to help defend us? They have let an alien culture invade their countries and set up mini states in their midst which have declared war on their people and they are incappable of handling this. If they don’t have the motivation and/or backbone to defend themsleves from these invaders why would anyone think they would fight for anyone else’s cause.
This should be a lesson well learned. We need to let Europe take care of Europe’s problems. Bring our troops home and stop subsidizing their economies with the huge influx of American Dollars which go to support our troops and their dependants. When the next Hitler, or Stalin, Ayatollah, or Wharever despot attacks them, let them fend for themselves. They are making their beds. We should let them lie in it until they get enough of it. Maybe then they will grow a backbone and take care of their own problems. It’s easy to kiss the behinds of of the bullies, give in to their demands , while condemning anyone who speaks against them when they know there is a strong big brother protector standing in the wings to come to their rescue when it gets to be too bad.
Those countries who have a collection of flags to wave when they surrender to each conqueroring army are not worthy of our efforts. All we have done is create a bunch of Bisquit Eaters, too lazy and unmotivated to do anything but lay around waiting for someone else to take care of them.
A pox on all of them. The sooner we realize we can depend on ourselves, and only ourselves, and make this country self sufficient once again, so we can defend ourselves without expecting any outside help, the safer we will be. Globalization sucks, and it doesn’t work.
MOMDEARI——tell the dems in this country what you just said. This is the direction they want us to go. Then everybody will love us.
When has French,German, and Itialians won a actual war or something even close.
NOBODY should even think about taking Ken seriously til he tell us which countries withdrew from the British Empire while Churchill was Prime Minister. He stated as a fact that the British Empire fell apart under Churchill. So far he hasn’t been able to come up with even ONE country. He has been called on it. He can’t produce. Believe nothing he says. He can’t prove it.
He is a real joke and French on top of that.
Crosspatch, did I miss something:
I can’t for the life of me understand why we still think Europe is so important
There is someone that thinks Europe is important. Hmmm must’ve missed that somehow.
Only count on French to provide white flags.
“Is it possible that all this anti American animosity in Europe is because they do not want to have to spend their money and send their young men to help defend the US under their NATO obligations?”
Well, how does that seem to be working out for them? Let’s compare riots of rampaging muslim youth in France as compared to say … the US, shall we?
Or maybe they believe they are socially superior. Let’s then compare things like unemployment and per capita growth in GDP. By any scale you measure it they are lagging.
Basically they are held hostage by verious special interests and don’t have the backbone to stand up to any of them. That is what happens when you have coalition governments with multiple parties. Chances are good that one of the parties in your coalition will have some special interest and standing against it will toss your government into turmoil.
So the end result is that nothing gets done until the people get so tired of it that they vote in a single party with enough of a mandate that it doesn’t need a coalition and can clean house. I suspect we are going to see some realignment in France this election cycle because I am getting the feeling that many in France are getting tired of being the laughing stock of Europe.
AJ,
I enjoy reading your site. I often enjoy the comments, as well.
Ken,
I’m a little new around here, but I assume that you were against the war from the beginning. It’s very hard to assess what’s happening over there. You have nightly news stories that make it look pretty awful, indeed. You also have a lot of people also saying that it’s not as bad as it looks on TV, too. Who to believe? There is some objective information one can use, however, to get a (very) rough idea about what is happening. Judging by civil wars elsewhere in recent history, if a city the size of Baghdad (pushing 5 million?) were truly in a state of “anarchy”, there would be evidence of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people fleeing the city. Where are the refugee camps? It’s bad, but words like “anarchy” (and “civil war”, for that matter) are clearly too strong what is happening there.
The dam is cracking , Strata , as Blair seems to admit the invasion of Iraq was and is a disaster.
Sloppy work, Ken — very sloppy. You obviously didn’t read the whole article, which went on to say this:
Did you intentionally try to mislead us, Ken, or did your zeal just cloud your judgement?
Rummy was right, way back when, and he should’ve been backed up when he hinted at closing down the US military presence in Germany as a first step in waving “Buh byeee” to Old Europe.
No matter how well-intentioned, our defense of their sorry behinds for sixty years left them with plenty of resources for their Socialist Shangri-la, but a funny thing happened on their way to a totally self-absorbed Nanny State: They found the joys of self-interest diluted and sullied by 2 AM feedings, changing diapers and other nuisance minutiae of the reproduction process, so they stopped having enough French, German, Dutch and etcetera babies (well, it’s not all bad news) to pick up their collective retirement and health-care tabs. Solution? Import workers to pay the future freight for the current generation of idlers and demanders.
Plenty of Islamists were ready and willing to re-colonize Old Europe. Oops! Oh, Dear, did that become a problem? If there were any way to avoid the inevitable fall-out over here, I’d enjoy a bit of, what’s the German term? Scheuden-something?
Bottom line is, if the CANADIANS are complaining, it really must be a problem.
Actually what Blair said was something to the effect that if it were a disaster why would you compound it by leaving…as usual the press deliberately miscontrued what he said the for the sake of a headline that would make people like Ken say silly things like Ken just said.
You see they know Ken will never look past the headline. Too much trouble.
Sisyphus, I feel, stated the situation quite clearly in his slightly earlier post upon the subject, No Worries: NATO is On the Job!
If anyone is interested:
At least in my area, right now Pastor John Hagee on his Sunday Show, “Cornerstone” is talking to Bridget Gabriel about her new book, terrorism, and Obsession. He has been doing the job the Media wont. Check for times in your local area. It is also replayed on one of the Christian Stations around 5:00 pm today. Check your local Cable/Satelite provider to see when. Pay attention folks!
If you haven’t seen Obsession, please, invest the $26.00, and get it.