As the United States “winds-down” efforts against Islamic terrorist organizations in Asia, the French are ramping-up against Islamist militants in the African nation of Mali. The French are using fighter jets to pound al-Qaida linked training camps in the northern part of the country.
This is not a new position for French President Sarkozy, he’s been advocating legal immigration for economic reasons since at least 2007 while restricting illegal immigration. In the United States, he’d be marked a racist bigot.
I’m getting plenty of e-mail from readers about the Obama administration’s decision “not” to pay respects to the 9,387 brave Americans who are buried in Normandy, France. President Obama is going to France for the 65th anniversary of D-Day in June.
From an Associated Press release five days ago…
French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he and U.S. President Barack Obama will visit the beaches of Normandy in June to mark the anniversary of D-Day. Sarkozy announced the visit at a news conference after he and Obama spoke privately on the sidelines of a NATO gathering.
Just because Obama was going to be in France (barely) – for his first international visit as head of state – does not require he go to Normandy. Maybe the schedule did not allow for the time. Maybe his primary goal at the G20 summit was to discuss economics.
Either way, it looks like head-of-state jealousy is part of the problem. The Europeans seem to want a lot of face time with the one.
That said, if you look back at the trip planing, we’ll find some interesting information that should concern you. This is from the UK Telegraph on April 2, the day before Sarkozy announced the visit in June, with my emphasis in bold.
“It wasn’t going to happen,” said an American official in Washington. “We went through the motions to placate President Sarkozy but giving special treatment to France was not on our agenda.
Giving special treatment to France? How the heck is visiting Normandy giving special treatment to France?
According to French reports, Mr Obama was to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-sur-mer, just north of Omaha Beach. The pair were apparently to have dined at the nearby chateau de Bénouville in Caen.
The White House rejected the offer, but Mr Sarkozy’s most senior aide said Mr Obama had agreed to come back in June for the 65th anniversary of the June 6th 1944, D-Day landings. A White House spokesman declined to comment on whether Mr Obama would travel to France in June.
My favorite military blog Blackfive is pretty ticked off, Sister Toldja says blame it on Sarkozy, and Gateway Pundit states Obama skipped Normandy to avoid offending Germany.
All I know is that Normandy is an important place, Obama will visit in June, and maybe he should have visited on this trip… but…
The G20 was scheduled for the UK months before Obama was sworn into office. His second stop was the German/France border where he met with leaders, he then went to the Czech Republic, on to Turkey and then a surprise trip to Iraq.
Why didn’t he go to Afghanistan? Why didn’t he…
We certainly can speculate and complain about every little detail (yes, I know, Normandy is not a little detail) but maybe we should concentrate more on the the G20’s global plan for recovery and reform which the main stream media has totally skipped?
In France yesterday, France 2 – a public national television network – aired footage they indicated was shot the morning of Jan. 1 after an Israeli bombing raid. Unfortunatley for France 2, the report – surprise, surprise – is fake.
So, is there a mole in France 2 that has ties to the terrorist organization Hamas? Maybe a sympathizer? Ya gotta ask the question. I guess this is my first example of Europe’s drive by media.
From Haaretz.com, with a hat tip to Powerline.
The footage aired on Channel 2 on Tuesday afternoon showed dozens of dead bodies, including Hamas gunmen and citizens, which the channel said were killed by an IAF bombing raid on January 1st. It later came to light that the channel had instead aired footage of the devastation caused after a truck full of explosives blew up in the Jabaliya Refugee Camp.
Yup, the guys – terrorists – blew themselves up while moving through a refugee camp. Just their style.
Just think how much crap environmental organizations give the military when they want to move ordinance around the United States.
Update: Atlas Shrugs picked up on the story today.
When it comes to stories out of France, you really do not have to try hard to find a good laugh. Although the countries new president seems to have his head on straight, that does not mean that the civil servants even have a brain.
Country line dancing has become a big hit in the wine-loving country. They are even wearing the Stetson hats and Justin boots. They may not dance exactly the way country-loving folks might do here in the states – God forbid – but line dancing has become so big that French officials think it should be regulated like soccer and rugby.
What?
Nice. The article is written like this is a normal in France. Maybe it is.
Cars are burned fairly regularly in France and the image of vehicles in flames in poor suburbs became symbolic of riots in 2005 when angry youths set fire to thousands of cars.
There is usually an increase in the number of cars torched on New Year’s Eve compared to other days of the year.
“The night was relatively calm, without notable incident, there were very few direct clashes with the security forces,” said a spokesman for the national police.
Relatively calm? Geez.
Of course, not one word about arrests, or even if they tried to arrest any of these criminals. They reported it like a sporting event. Maybe if they put these criminals in jail and make them pay restitution, this fairly regular activity would stop?