[Peace-discuss] Independent: French were 'hours' from strikes on Syria before phone call from Obama

[Robert Naiman]

Key takeaway: don't let ultra-left structuralism dissuade you from activism
and political engagement, because history is contingent.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-were-hours-from-military-strikes-on-syria-before-phone-call-from-obama-8847551.html


French were 'hours' from military strikes on Syria before phone call from
Obama
Fighter jets were preparing for scheduled take off when President Hollande
took 'stunning' call from US telling him to hold fire
ANNE PENKETH  Author Biography  PARIS  SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2013

French President Francois Hollande called off military strikes against
Syria on 31 August following a phone call from the US President only hours
before fighter jets were set to take off, a French weekly magazine has
revealed.

The report in the Nouvel Observateur shows how close the West came to
launching a war on Syria over the Syrian regime’s presumed use of chemical
weapons in a Damascus suburb, before Washington backed down. President
Obama announced in a televised speech on 31 August, after informing a
“stunned” Mr Hollande, that he would seek a Congressional vote, effectively
lifting the military threat.

Rafale aircraft were readied that Saturday for take-off and official
statements prepared in anticipation of the strikes, according to the Nouvel
Observateur. “Everything made us think that D-Day had arrived,” a French
official is quoted as saying. The magazine said that “this incredible
misunderstanding lasted until the end of the afternoon,” at 6.15pm, when
President Obama telephoned Mr Hollande, who was expecting to confirm the
military orders just after the phone call. The strikes had been intended to
start at 3am later that night, targeting missile batteries and command
centres of the 4th Armoured Division in charge of chemical weapons.

But instead of confirming that the US and French military would intervene
jointly, President Obama changed his mind following a conversation in the
White House Rose garden with his chief of staff Denis McDonough.

The French Defence Ministry had no comment on the Nouvel Observateur report
today. But it was clear that the French military establishment was stung by
the US leader’s behaviour. The former head of the French military academy,
General Vincent Desportes, told Le Monde on 2 September that “President
Obama’s U-turn reflects a great contempt by the United States for France.”

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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