Bin Laden message warns France to pull out of Afghanistan - Polidicks

Please, please rate me dumb. I'm sorry, but when the fuck did France go in to Afghanistan?! I've never heard about this. Only European country I know of that has troops in Afghanistan is England.

[QUOTE=NO ONE;27589681]I'm sorry, but when the fuck did France go in to Afghanistan?! I've never heard about this. Only European country I know of that has troops in Afghanistan is England.[/QUOTE] NATO forces / UN Peacekeepers as far as I'm aware. (not sure which one, though I could be completely wrong myself)

[QUOTE=bravehat;27579414]Actually all joking aside the french army have only ever actually surrendered in the second world war, and that was because they were effectively fighting alone thanks to the speed of the german blitzkreig.[/QUOTE] That statement is so incredibly wrong. Aside from the fact that they had the BEF helping them, the French army alone was numerically superior to the Wehrmacht.

[QUOTE=David29;27590600]That statement is so incredibly wrong. Aside from the fact that they had the BEF helping them, the French army alone was numerically superior to the Wehrmacht.[/QUOTE] And the French military also had equipment and technology that was superior to that of the Germans, but they made the mistake of thinking that they would fight the way they wanted them to.

[QUOTE=bravehat;27581110]Nice slant you spotted, shame it ain't there. Africans and Haitians are in such a shitty way that reporting their deaths are redundant, it's expected now, whereas two french journos getting kidnapped is quite a rare occurence.[/QUOTE] That doesn't make their deaths any more or less important than the Africans/Haitians, though. We should regard an innocent death of any country to be a tragedy. It's odd though that mankind usually places more dramaticism on a handful of deaths than many. [i]One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.[/i] -Iosif Stalin [editline]22nd January 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Tac Error;27591981]And the French military also had equipment and technology that was superior to that of the Germans, but they made the mistake of thinking that they would fight the way they wanted them to.[/QUOTE] The problem was the French had pisspoor training, since they thought that 'war was no longer possible' after WWI, and they handled it entirely wrong. Their generals were semi-senile WWI relics, whereas Germany had young, fresh, brilliant generals, like Guderian, Hoth, and Manstein.

[QUOTE=Gmod_Fan77;27592622] The problem was the French had pisspoor training, since they thought that 'war was no longer possible' after WWI, and they handled it entirely wrong. Their generals were semi-senile WWI relics, whereas Germany had young, fresh, brilliant generals, like Guderian, Hoth, and Manstein.[/QUOTE] The French soldier and junior officer were pretty well trained. But like you said, the same couldn't be said for the senior leadership. I recommend that you seek out and read the book [i]The Seeds of Disaster: The Development of French Army Doctrine 1919-1939[/i] by Colonel Robert A. Doughty for a good picture of the interwar French Army.

[QUOTE=NO ONE;27589681]Please, please rate me dumb. I'm sorry, but when the fuck did France go in to Afghanistan?! I've never heard about this. Only European country I know of that has troops in Afghanistan is England.[/QUOTE] Spain has troops there too.

[QUOTE=Gmod_Fan77;27592622] The problem was the French had pisspoor training, since they thought that 'war was no longer possible' after WWI, and they handled it entirely wrong. Their generals were semi-senile WWI relics, whereas Germany had young, fresh, brilliant generals, like Guderian, Hoth, and Manstein.[/QUOTE] Don't ever forget Rommel. From what I recall, he masterminded the German bypassing of the Maginot Line (dumb concept), thus completely taking the French by surprise. [QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;27587870]Replace Afghanistan with Vietnam and terrorists with communists and try reading that again. Has Vietnam done anything like that since the end of the Vietnam war? [/QUOTE] Except the motivations of the Viet-Cong/NVA and Taliban aren't the same. The communists simply wanted an independent, communist-led united Vietnam. The Taliban are linked to Al-Qaeda, who launch attacks on Western society. If the Taliban succeed, it will embolden anti-Western terrorist groups across the Middle East, thus spurring further attacks against the West. However, one thing the North Vietnamese DID do upon capturing the South was massacre a number of pro-Western Southerners. In the same manner, the Taliban have the habit of slaying any Afghanis against them, and anyone who doesn't conform to their fundamentalist ideology. Tl;dr - if you leave the Taliban alone, it's not all going to be OK.

[QUOTE=Turtlecake;27581584]That doesn't make them any less human, They were born into that situation and cannot escape it without some sort of large external force to lift them out of the poverty that consumes them. The media brainwashes people in a way where psuedo-racism is the norm and that numbers on your screen are nothing more than numbers, though if something is of remote national interest then everyone will talk about it like the end of the world. Just yesterday I was watching the news, and the stories were nothing more than the kidnapping of some upper class white girl which lasted for for 3 hours, then a tiny 30 second snippet of the flooding in Brazil and Australia (which killed thousands), then it goes back to the usual rhetoric. [editline]22nd January 2011[/editline] By the way people, the war is meaningless. Wikileaks showed that 60% of the deaths in Iraq/Afghanistan were innocent civilians "being in the way" of fire. It's a joke, and the only people who benefit from it is the Contractors. Most of them fight back because they [i]actually[/i] believe the west is there to take over the country. Surveys showed that more than 95% of the people living there have literally no clue why our militaries are invading, or had no clue that 9/11 ever even happened.[/QUOTE] Ahahahaaaa. Idiot. You try making people watch your media station by mentioning every single death that occurs in the world.

[QUOTE=Dr_Funk;27594303]Don't ever forget Rommel. From what I recall, he masterminded the German bypassing of the Maginot Line (dumb concept), thus completely taking the French by surprise. [/QUOTE] While Rommel would play an important roll in the invasion of France, he had no involvement with the strategic planning of the invasion (given his rank at the time - he was only at divisional command level at this point). The decision to bypass the Maginot Line was just sheer common sense - it was the same reason that Germany had invaded Belgium in the First World War. It would have been suicidal to attack the Maginot Line head on and it didn't require a genius to realise that. The actual final plan for Fall Gelb was formulated by Manstein and Guderian.

[QUOTE=David29;27594511]While Rommel would play an important roll in the invasion of France, he had no involvement with the strategic planning of the invasion (given his rank at the time - he was only at divisional command level at this point). The decision to bypass the Maginot Line was just sheer common sense - it was the same reason that Germany had invaded Belgium in the First World War. It would have been suicidal to attack the Maginot Line head on and it didn't require a genius to realise that. The actual final plan for Fall Gelb was formulated by Manstein and Guderian.[/QUOTE] I see. Well, Rommel can certainly still be regarded as a brilliant general, given his work with the Afrika Korps and such.

[QUOTE=NO ONE;27589681]Please, please rate me dumb. I'm sorry, but when the fuck did France go in to Afghanistan?! I've never heard about this. Only European country I know of that has troops in Afghanistan is England.[/QUOTE] Anywhere with a lot of choas and civil unrest is bound to have countries like Germany and France get involved. Germany actually did more to fight the violence in Rwanda than the United States did.

[QUOTE=GarrysMod;27577475]And when was the last war they won?[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.militaryfactory.com/battles/french_military_victories.asp]Try take a look here[/url]

Osama is about as real as the boogeyman in your closet.

[QUOTE=Samiam22;27596877][url=http://www.militaryfactory.com/battles/french_military_victories.asp]Try take a look here[/url][/QUOTE] How in the hell is France doing better than the United States right now? Sometimes, our country can be retarded with military issues. [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] Not that France sucks with military operations.

[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;27587870]Replace Afghanistan with Vietnam and terrorists with communists and try reading that again. Has Vietnam done anything like that since the end of the Vietnam war? [editline]22nd January 2011[/editline] They can go attack on their own. The rest of us won't give a fuck.[/QUOTE] Nice, replace a political ideology with a hyper agressive religious doctrine and it's all the same. The shining light of retard is strong in you, so strong in fact I need sunglasses just to survive this encounter. [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=certified;27588684]France, maybe it is time to rearm those cold war nuke silos. Collateral damage will happen. But nations like Iran and other countries supported or controlled by terrorist organizations brought this on themselves. Also, thumbs up to the people revolting against the dictators in Africa and the middle east. Sacrifices were made, and the people are dieing, in the end the fascist dictators like Ahmadinejad will be hung high and dry to rot. Anyone think NATO should support a rebellion in Iran like the USSR supported North Vietnam and NK years ago? Not actually going to fight directly, but secretly supplying arms. War with Iran is suicide. Revolution from the inside cannot be stopped thanks to strength in numbers, the fascists Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be crazy to commit a genocide upon the entire nations population. Ahmadinejad, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must die. 74,700,000 estimated people whom hate Iran's government VS a small army of brainwashed Islamic extremists Millions of lives at stake Some will live, Most will die.[/QUOTE] It's adorable how you over estimate dictators with automatic weapons and a loyal army. [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=David29;27590600]That statement is so incredibly wrong. Aside from the fact that they had the BEF helping them, the French army alone was numerically superior to the Wehrmacht.[/QUOTE] The BEF was something like 100,000 troops unless they upscaled after the first world war, and numbers mean jack shit when your enemy has the speed to flank you and pound you into the dust from whence you came. The Blitzkreig flattened nations fast, faster than anyone could adapt to at te start of the war.

[QUOTE=David29;27590600]That statement is so incredibly wrong. Aside from the fact that they had the BEF helping them, the French army alone was numerically superior to the Wehrmacht.[/QUOTE] But being numerical superior doesn't count for anything when the huge line of defense you've been strengthening for the last two decades is bypassed and cut off. Not only is it pretty demoralizing, but without fuel, ammunition and food, things are a bit difficult.

[QUOTE=Gmod_Fan77;27589534]Everyone in America is taught a handful of bulletproof badass farmers destroyed the whole British army and killed King George. In Britain, we were taught that the French alone saved the Continentals' asses.[/QUOTE] That isn't actually true. While our history books clearly told that the Continental Army got curbstomped by the British in every open battle, that they had to resort to guerrilla warfare, and the French Navy was the only thing really keeping the British from stomping all over them, there are always the idiots who either don't pay attention in school and just make guesses about what actually happened, or people who are so bigoted as to think that our country is some unstoppable god. Other than that, this is almost as amusing as that terrorist group that declared a holy war on Switzerland.

French army are quite a capable force, learned that in history, they fought hard in WW1 but the biggest mistake they ever made was the maginot line, a wall of fortress used to prevent an invasion like this ever happening but they didn't predict Germany to go straight through Belgium into France which is reasonable.

[QUOTE=DarkendSky;27601733]That isn't actually true. While our history books clearly told that the Continental Army got curbstomped by the British in every open battle, that they had to resort to guerrilla warfare, and the French Navy was the only thing really keeping the British from stomping all over them,[/quote] That's actually an exact description of what our books teach.

Know what would be great? Media tags, media tags for every huge picture that makes the shitty internet here in my work slow down to a crawl. :argh:

[QUOTE=certified;27588740]Just realized how crazy that post sounds, but it gets like that when you have a Facebook friend in Iran who logs in to FB to say he is going to a protest, and then hasnt posted anything new or logged on in 2 years. Ahmadinejad, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must die. Kill their nuke scientists. Kill their politicians. Kill all who stand in the way of the people Kill all who speak for the fascists.[/QUOTE] Seek immediate help

[QUOTE=Gmod_Fan77;27589534]Everyone in America is taught a handful of bulletproof badass farmers destroyed the whole British army and killed King George. In Britain, we were taught that the French alone saved the Continentals' asses.[/QUOTE] It's kind of a combination of several factors. Almost none of which had anything to do with morale as the living conditions of a continental soldier varied greatly, depending on where you were. Redcoats had no idea how to fight in the terrain Britain dropped them into and a lot of them had no motivation to fight at all. George III was a complete nutcase who was considered incompetent as a leader by Parliament before the war even ended. The pro-war Tories were losing power in Parliament, and the the more domestically-focused Whigs were gaining power. The war itself was becoming very costly for Britain and with France (and possibly Spain if the war had continued) entering the war, there was the growing threat of having the war expand into European land and Britain itself would be the ones getting attacked.

I keep reading this thread title as "Bin Laden m[b]a[/b]ssage warns France to pull out of Afghanistan".

[QUOTE=bravehat;27601205]The BEF was something like 100,000 troops unless they upscaled after the first world war, and numbers mean jack shit when your enemy has the speed to flank you and pound you into the dust from whence you came. The Blitzkreig flattened nations fast, faster than anyone could adapt to at te start of the war.[/QUOTE] I am aware of that, and I don't ever recall playing down the success of the Blitzkrieg (in fact, by noting that the Allies were numerically superior I was actually acknowledging its effectiveness). I was responding to your comment that the French were alone, when they weren't, and that the Allies were easily capable of stopping the German offensive if they had only been more open-minded. Also, numbers do not mean 'jack shit' - see: the Eastern Front. And the BEF had at least 316,000 troops in France.

[QUOTE=David29;27604458]I am aware of that, and I don't ever recall playing down the success of the Blitzkrieg (in fact, by noting that the Allies were numerically superior I was actually acknowledging its effectiveness). I was responding to your comment that the French were alone, when they weren't, and that the Allies were easily capable of stopping the German offensive if they had only been more open-minded. Also, numbers do not mean 'jack shit' - see: the Eastern Front. And the BEF had at least 316,000 troops in France.[/QUOTE] When faced with a strategically and technological superior adversary, numbers mean cock all, that's what I mean, the germans advanced military tactics with the blitzkreig it was totally new and as such the french were unprepared for it, that's the point I was making, the blitzkrieg completely negated the advantages the french had with the maginot line. And I admit I was wrong about the numbers of the BEF, but they still got defeated by the germans.

[QUOTE=Starpluck;27603359]Seek immediate help[/QUOTE] I thought it was quite reasonable, myself.

[QUOTE=bravehat;27601893]Know what would be great? Media tags, media tags for every huge picture that makes the shitty internet here in my work slow down to a crawl. :argh:[/QUOTE] You know what would be even greater? Convincing your boss that dial-up is terrible, and to leave AOL back with other relics like trying to set the VCR's timer. [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Dr_Funk;27604805]I thought it was quite reasonable, myself.[/QUOTE] Then you should be very worried, and should also seek immediate help.

Yeah, imagine using te most inefficient systems known to man. I could do 3 hours work in 15 minutes if only i had the ability to duplicate drafts and alternate one line of information :argh: and I'm stucking using internet fucking explorer, not even the newer versions either. This sucks bobey it does.

[QUOTE=Dr_Funk;27604805]I thought it was quite reasonable, myself.[/QUOTE] Then I extend my most sincerest apologies to you for being born in such a sick mental state. [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] Even if it was just your immense blind bias, it's still not excusable for your barbarism.