So did the French ever do something in Iraq (not a troll)

[Ted Striker]

I am just curious because I thought that the Charles De Gaulle carrier was sent to the Persian Gulf, and I wonder whatever happened to that task force.

Were they just there on standby?

[DaShi]

They surrendered to the Iraqi farmer who shot down the Black Hawk.

[Paul Hanson]

IIRC, the task force returned home. They were on an exercise that had been planned some time before the Iraqi crisis, I think.

[Spiffor]

IIRC, there have been training exercizes with the newest US carrier (I think it is the Nixon) in East Mediterranean before the war, and then the carrier returned to France, when it was sure France wouldn't take part in the war.
Edit : I think France had allowed USUK troops to fly above its territory.

[Ted Striker]

Oh, okay, thanks for the info everybody.

[SlowwHand]

Stash this here.

[Q Classic]

it's not ya, it's Ja.

[DinoDoc]

Good a place as any to post this:

The French: I’m Shocked, Shocked!

April 21 issue — The French government insists that it has strictly enforced a tight embargo imposed on Saddam Hussein’s regime by the United Nations in 1990. But Saddam never lost his taste for French weapons or luxury goods. And evidence found by U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq suggests that—despite U.N. sanctions—the dictator continued to receive an abundant supply of both until very recently.

LT. GREG HOLMES, a tactical intelligence officer with the Third Infantry Division, told NEWSWEEK that U.S. forces discovered 51 Roland-2 missiles, made by a partnership of French and German arms manufacturers, in two military compounds at Baghdad International Airport. One of the missiles he examined was labeled 05-11 KND 2002, which he took to mean that the missile was manufactured last year. The charred remains of a more modern Roland-3 launcher was found just down the road from the arms cache. According to a mortar specialist with the same unit, radios used by many Iraqi military trucks brandished MADE IN FRANCE labels and looked brand new. RPG night sights stamped with the number 2002 and French labels also turned up. And a new Nissan pickup truck driven by a surrendering Iraqi officer was manufactured in France as well.

U.S. soldiers who moved into one of Saddam’s sumptuous palaces found a treasure house of less-deadly French goodies. Sets of Baath Party-logo silverware were marked MADE IN FRANCE on the back. And the palace was littered with the French cigarette brands Gauloise and Gitane. There were even packages of white French underwear.

Political conservatives on Capitol Hill are already fuming at this new evidence of possible French perfidy, though French officials deny wrongdoing. A French Embassy spokeswoman insists that the Roland-2 missile was an old model which the manufacturer stopped making years ago, though she admits the Roland-3 is a newer model. She says the Chirac government’s position is that new goods from France found in Iraq were probably illegal deliveries that Saddam purchased on a marche parallel, or black market.
—Arian Campo-Flores and Kevin Peraino in Iraq and Mark Hosenball in Washington

http://www.msnbc.com/news/899533.asp

[Zevico]

Well, they did help with them with that reactor some time ago, I wonder what happened to that....

[Spiffor]

This was when Saddam was best friends with the west. The reactor has been attacked and destroyed by Israel.

DD:
I think it is DanS who has foreseen your troops would proudly brandish everything they could find that has a MADE IN FRANCE label on it. That is, after quickly sweeping everything that has a MADE IN USA label on it

Edit : added link

[yago]

Are the french allied with Saddam ? Are they planning to nuke Washington DC ? Or LA ? Do the French pose a clear and present danger ?

[yago]

Originally posted by yago

[Political conservatives on Capitol Hill are already fuming at this new evidence of possible French perfidy, though French officials deny wrongdoing. A French Embassy spokeswoman insists that the Roland-2 missile was an old model which the manufacturer stopped making years ago, though she admits the Roland-3 is a newer model. She says the Chirac government’s position is that new goods from France found in Iraq were probably illegal deliveries that Saddam purchased on a marche parallel, or black market.

At last, weapon-inspector Rumsfield has found something. After tons and tons of weapons of mass destruction ... ah ... for insects, a.k.a. pesticides.

" probably illegal deliveries " . Now, they only have to find the guys who delivered them. Let's start the search in Texas .

[Sava]

If you want to point fingers at a European nation for the problems in Iraq, look at the British... whose Imperialism lead to the creation of the secular state in the first place. Whenever the British drew up borders for a new country, bad things happen. (part of Imperialism thread but I've been reading up on the subject lately)