Flit

MY FINGERPRINTS WERE MISSING WHEN I WIPED AWAY THE JAM

Den Beste comments on my RAAF entry, below.

For the record, here's a summary of the original piece in French that says what the French did in Afghanistan:

Sans en préciser le nombre, les responsables militaires français conviennent qu'ils ont été amenés à refuser certains des bombardements qu'on leur avait demandé d'exécuter, en raison de divergences d'appréciation avec les Américains sur l'impact potentiel de ces missions.

The BBC translated this, not incorrectly, as:

"...the French and Americans had a difference of opinion over some bombing missions because of the risk to the civilian population."

Den Beste said at the time:

I read this and went cold. It doesn't matter why; the French were given an order and refused to follow it... American men could have died. Apparently Paris doesn't care about that.

There's a certain amount of inference, there, about exactly what happened from a Forward Air Control perspective, surely. Did the French refuse missions at the point of weapons release, or earlier? We don't know. Was their belief that there was a risk to civilians justified, or not? We don't know. Was the decision a pilot's, or a politician's, or someone in between? We don't know. All we have is the quotes above to base the whole French air force perfidy argument on; everything else is inference.

Fast forward a couple years. Den Beste, today:

The French squadron command refused to fly major missions against certain targets because the French themselves disagreed with the strategic decision to bomb those areas. Australian pilots refused to drop their bombs because they judged there was too great a risk that the bombs would strike the wrong things.

Now, perhaps Den Beste knows something he hasn't linked to, in which case I will happily correct the record. But the original quote in French above says nothing about squadron commands, and nothing about strategic decisions. As worded, it could even very well refer to exactly the same circumstances as the Australian refusal: that based on the situation on the ground that we are not equipped to judge now, a pilot or controller decided to err on the side of caution.

Of course that's what air force pilots are supposed to do. That's not the point. The question is, given only that French quote at the top of the page to go on, why did we then assume French perfidy, and now Australian uprightness?

NOTE: Here's another take on the same incident. The six Manas-based Mirage 2000s flew 1200 sorties in six months between March and October 2002: an average of more than one per day per plane. (Super Etendards were also flying in from the Indian Ocean at the time.)

IF I'VE GOT TO REMEMBER THAT'S A FINE MEMORY

Mr. Speaker, 60 years ago, on June 6, 1944, the Third Canadian Division landed on Juno Beach [Normandy] and, with their courage, helped to free a continent and defeat a tyrant. Many died fighting for a peace they would not see and a future they would not know. To preserve the memory and to tell the story of what Canadians did that day, this budget provides a $1.5-million contribution to the Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer in Normandy.

--Finance Minister Ralph Goodale, March 23

Sixty years ago, Canadians were working alongside their British and American allies planning for the invasion of Norway and the liberation of Europe... Today, it is every bit as important that Canada step forward – just as we did during the invasion of Norway.

--Paul Martin, April 14

I'm thinking $1.5 million may not be enough, Ralph. Also, the PM needs a bigger font on his cue cards. (Whatever else I've said about Bush, at least his office has so far left the "Caucus" mistake in the web version honestly, unlike their counterparts here.)

ILS ME DIRENT, 'SIGNE TOI,' MAIS JE N'AI PAS PEUR; J'AI REPRIS MON ARME...

"Ora vi faccio vedere come muore un Italiano!"

--Seemed only appropriate to put soon-to-be-famous last words from a particularly brave soldier-for-hire in the right language.

WE INTERRUPT THE LENNY HEADLINES BRIEFLY TO SAY: OKAY, THIS WAS FUNNY

"I only have one rule!" he shouts. "Everyone fights! No one quits!" That sounded more like two rules to me.

--from Gary Farber's favourite Starship Troopers review.