Shocker : France Wimps Out

As you should know by now, France, the one pushing so hard for a cease-fire, and touting and international force to enforce it, has begged off actually participating.

Oh, okay, they STILL have troops ready to go in, but now instead of the 2,000 or more French troops many expected to be sent on the Paris led effort, they are going to send 200. Oh, but France is still willing to lead the whole thing.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called Chirac on Thursday to plead with him to reconsider. The French president's office released a statement later indicating he had not yielded.

The statement confirmed that France would send a company of 200 military engineers to Lebanon. They would join more than 200 French peacekeepers already serving in the relatively small U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL. Chirac also told Annan that "France was prepared to assume command" of the bolstered U.N. force, according to the statement.

What commitment!

I could write a whole lot on this, but what more needs be said? This is funny in a historical/cultural stereotype kind of way, but the fact is that this kind of pointless meddling is going ensure more people are killed later on. France is feeding its need for relevance on the blood of others.

France likes to talk the talk, when it comes to walking the walk, they want no part.

Of course, France is not stupid here, but merely calculating and spineless. They know what happens to "peacekeepers" sent to keep the peace with Hezbollah in the area. They are not crazy. They are not going to send 2,000 or more of their soldiers, who are not known for their war-fighting abilities to begin with, into Lebanon with big bullseyes on their backs.

What makes it so very sleazy is that they know EXACTLY what Hezbollah is, and yet that claim that Israel can and should bargain in good faith with them.

Yes, France is more than willing to try and play the Great State, but when it came to actually backing it up, they reveal how very small they are.

A while back, the Chirac bitterly chided some eastern European nations when they had the temerity to buck his anti-American stance on Iraq, telling them that they had missed a great opportunity to "shut up".

Well, it seems to me that since France missed their chance to "put up", then they should be the one to avail themselves of the "shut up" option.

Weasals.