A military exercise staged 35 years ago almost triggered World War Three

Re:A military exercise staged 35 years ago almost triggered ... by lmm on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @06:02AM (#18541288)

> France had no problem supporting the conflicts in Libya and Syria that sought to accomplish similar outcomes as in Iraq (remove & replace Gaddafi and al-Assad).

And if the US had argued for invading Iraq on that basis, maybe we'd've supported it. But of course we're going to oppose an invasion when its proponents are basing their arguments on a blatant lie like the 45 minute claim.

(If the US/UK thought there was a good case for invasion on genuine grounds, why did they feel the need to lie?)

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Re:A military exercise staged 35 years ago almost triggered ... by varjag on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @06:59AM (#18541572)

Indeed, if we look back France committed 18,000 troops for the first Gulf War that was widely considered a just cause. Similarly most of the NATO allies supported the USA in Afghanistan.

But that going into a war on a false pretext is morally corrupt, and fortunately most Western governments were above that.

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Re:A military exercise staged 35 years ago almost triggered ... by nicolas_t on Tuesday November 27, 2018 @12:02PM (#18544075)

Not to mention that the French total had a cosy relationship with Saddam Hussein's government after they negotiated in 1997 for access. It was really not in the interest of France to have a war in Irak

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