USA To France: Don't Show Up
French "Disinvited" to Red Flag Ops
French military pilots were supposed to take part in one of the world's premier aerial-combat schools next year. It's an honor for another country to be invited to the school. But the invitation is for friends only. That's why, a couple of weeks ago, a Pentagon official reportedly phoned the military attache at the French Embassy in Washington and said, in essence, don't bother showing up. Red Flag operations, the French were told, "are going to be reserved for those with whom we will likely be participating in operations in the future."
Not Exactly What You'd Call A Subtle Hint
It was the second time in a month the Pentagon issued an unmistakable signal to the French that relations, often strained since the end of World War II, are at absolute low-ebb. In late April, DOD told the French that American military forces wouldn't be doing their famous aerobatic and static displays at the world-renouned Paris Air Show.
The snubs come after France blocked a UN Security Council vote on military action in Iraq earlier this year. They also come amid reports that France, which has always had close ties to Iraq, provided visas and other assistance to Saddam Hussein's leadership in a bid to help them escape the allied invasion of Iraq. "France has historically had a very close relationship with Iraq . . . that continued right up until the outbreak of the war. What took place thereafter," said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (right) last week, "we'll find out."
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