French combat strategy

The first French "peacekeeping" troops to arrive in Lebanon were a vanguard of...49...who arrived in...inflatable dinghies. At least they sailed for Lebanon via a warship, but then again, under their navy specifications that probably means anything over 20 feet. Well, maybe they plan to make Hezbollah laugh themselves to death.



Only the French could arrive with "We'll surrender!" all over their foreheads. Never mind the jokes about the Canadian navy -- nothing could have bolstered Hezbollah's confidence more than the sight of those frogs. How do you say, "More pathetic than 1940 and 1870 combined" in Arabic? Perhaps dinghies were all that the mighty French needed for transporting themselves and their smelly cheese equipment, but let's remember a particular characteristic about this enemy we're fighting. While Arabs respect strength, as do most cultures, they particularly despise weakness (like when Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, and its capitulation in 1993 with the Oslo Accords). Similarly, in "Braveheart" when Edward Longshanks decided to send a negotiator to meet with Wallace, he mused that the appearance of his "gentle son" would only embolden the Scots.

There's probably an Arabic saying equivalent to "bringing a knife to a gunfight" (dagger against a scimitar?), and that's exactly what the French did. Ah well, it's not as if the UN "peacekeeping" force would ever be of any worth, anyway. The jihadists already knew that. They also know that if they can make we Westerners fight by "rules" while they do whatever it takes for them to win, they'll win. The UN "peacekeepers" will do no more than sit around pointing fingers at Israel, following Kofi's example, when in fact Israel is doing nothing more than cutting off the jihadists' supply lines. The jihadists meanwhile will continue fighting to achieve peace by winning, not by agreement.

Yahoo's news stories are especially prone to updates without notice. When I read the story on Saturday morning, it was the mention of "inflatable dinghies" that caught my eye. However, that AP story, on Yahoo and many other sites, no longer mentions the mode of transportation. For example, searching Google News yields many CBS News sites, with search results snippets still mentioning the dinghies, but the articles have been "updated" and no longer do. Maybe the AP editors realized it was too embarrassing for even the French? Forbes and the Guardian still mention it.