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No easy exit for French fighting terror in Mali
France, breaking its own rules with a surprise military intervention in Mali,
Why are rules made if not to be broken...
appears to be halting the lightning advance of radical Islamists seen as a threat to Europe.
Perhaps Mr. Hollande now will have a little sympathy for Mr. Bush...
But the operation raises the specter
ohhhh, how evil, a specter!
of an African quagmire
QUAGMIRE! Yes, Journolist has been busy lately planting all the correct new buzz words...
in a new theater of the West's war on terror
Are we still calling it that?
just as France and other U.S. allies emerge from the old one in Afghanistan. And it undermines President Francois Hollande's promise to end the cozy, paternalistic ties France has long sustained with its former African colonies.
He didn't promise he'd abandon them to terrorists, did he?
France fears a new sanctuary of terrorism could take root in Mali, and says fast action was the only choice after sudden extremist advances last week.
That's about right, I think, and credit to the French for being alert and being willing to act. It helped that it was in their traditional 'sphere of influence', but that's fine. Again, this might cause the French to understand what we've been going through in Afghanistan and Iraq...
French authorities contend that Mali and its neighbors in West Africa, Europe and especially France are threatened by three radical organizations, including an al-Qaida affiliate, that control northern Mali and are looking to extend their grip to the crucial south and the capital of Bamako to set up a terror state.

French authorities acknowledged Sunday that the militants have turned out to be better-armed and equipped than France had initially thought.
Posted by: tipper 2013-01-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=360055