French Jet Halted Qaddafi’s Escape From Stronghold

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-20/french-air-power-begins-ends-nato-air-campaign-over-libya.html

The NATO air campaign to oust Muammar Qaddafi began with French Mirage jets destroying a column of his tanks on the outskirts of Benghazi seven months ago.

Yesterday, it was a French Mirage jet that fired to block Qaddafi’s escape from Sirte in a four-wheel drive vehicle. Libyan fighters then moved in and killed the man who had ruled their country for 42 years.

The French involvement in the war’s denouement was symbolic of the leading role President Nicolas Sarkozy has played since Libyan rebels first sought outside help for their revolution.

While U.S. military involvement was “quite considerable,” said Andrew Pierre, a former senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, “the intervention in Libya will be perceived by the French public as French-led. That will be a strong card for a man who’s facing a very tough” re-election bid next year.

[tabasco]

1. Waiting for the Khadaffi lovers to show up and start hating on the French.

"BOOHOOHOO! POOR OL' MUAMMAR!!!"

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[xchrom]

4. i would be one of those 'quaddafi lovers'.

i was and am opposed to u.s. military involvements like this.

& how much did this cost?

all this hysteria about debts, deficits & we have the money for this bull shit.

[Akoto]

11. Cost was roughly $1.1 billion, zero American deaths, and ...

It seems a small price to pay in order to halt a genocide. We didn't start the conflict, we came to the aid of people who needed and wanted it.

Link on price: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/for-the-us-war-against-qaddafi-cost-relatively-little-11-billion/247133/

UPDATE: I may be off on that, given Biden's video which states $2 billion. So, somewhere between the two.

[malaise]

13. Ditto n/t

[ret5hd]

6. Do you have any words of derision for the rethuglicans who have gone from...

"freedom fries" and "cheese eating surrender monkeys" to French kissing every waiter with a fake french accent?

[Gari]

7. Maybe we'll get our French classes back

After "Operation Freedom", our Texas Rethugs dropped French in our middle schools, pretty much starving the program in high school. We used to have 2 French teachers, now we have one and enrollment is dropping.

[ret5hd]

9. testing...testing...is this mic on?

[XanaDUer]

2. Oh, the freedom-hating, cheese-eating surrender monkeys did that?

Wow.

:sarcasm:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

3. It's hilarious to see all these RW douchebags giving the French so much credit. nt

[xchrom]

5. i admit -- there is some pleasurable irony in that. nt

[libinnyandia]

8. French

I'm sure the British still resent the help those Frenchmen gave to us in the Revolutionary war. The Republicans have such selective memories.

[MisterP]

10. it's just Guatemala '54 again--the only surprising thing is how many "Dems" make themselves fooled

[TBF]

12. The top dems understand just as the top repubs do - war is the business of this country.

2.1 Colonial wars (1620–1774)
2.2 War of Independence (1775–1783)
2.3 Early national period (1783–1812)
2.3.1 Barbary wars
2.4 War of 1812
2.5 War with Mexico (1846–48)
2.6 American Civil War (1861–1865)
2.7 Post-Civil War era (1865–1917)
2.7.1 Indian Wars (1865–1870)
2.7.2 Spanish-American War (1898)
2.7.3 Philippine-American War (1899–1902)
2.8 Modernization
2.9 Banana Wars (1898–1935)
2.10 Moro Rebellion (1899–1913)
2.11 World War I (1917–1918)
2.11.1 Russian Revolution
2.12 1920s: Naval disarmanment
2.13 1930s: Neutrality Acts
2.14 World War II (1939–1945)
2.15 Cold War era (1945–1991)
2.15.1 Postwar Military Reorganization (1947)
2.15.2 Korean War (1950–1953)
2.15.3 Lebanon crisis of 1958
2.15.4 Dominican Intervention
2.15.5 Vietnam War (1955–1975)
2.15.6 Tehran hostage rescue
2.15.7 Grenada
2.15.8 Beirut
2.15.9 Libya
2.15.10 Panama
2.16 Post–Cold War era (1991–2001)
2.16.1 Persian Gulf War (1990–1991)
2.16.2 Somalia
2.16.3 Haiti
2.16.4 Yugoslavia
2.17 War on Terrorism (2001–present)
2.17.1 Afghanistan
2.17.2 Philippines
2.18 Iraq
2.19 Libyan intervention

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United_States