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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 02:35 PM Feb 2013

French soldier killed in Mali, 20 rebels dead

Source: Reuters

French soldier killed in Mali, 20 rebels dead

PARIS/DAKAR | Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:03pm EST

(Reuters) - A French soldier and more than 20 Islamist rebels were killed during what appeared to be the first clashes in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountain range where militants have taken refuge in northern Mali, French sources said on Tuesday.

Speaking on a visit to Athens, French President Francois Hollande said serious fighting had broken out and was continuing in the remote Adrar des Ifoghas mountains, resulting in several casualties among the rebels and one among the French.

"A legionnaire from the 2nd foreign parachute regiment has died in a clash with Islamists in northern Mali," Hollande told reporters in Athens.

The soldier is the second French casualty since the intervention last month to oust al Qaeda-backed rebels from northern Mali.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/19/us-mali-rebels-france-idUSBRE91I0XT20130219
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French soldier killed in Mali, 20 rebels dead (Original Post) Eugene Feb 2013 OP
How long before some RW Neocon Senator suggests that the US may need to get further involved? Leslie Valley Feb 2013 #1
 

Leslie Valley

(310 posts)
1. How long before some RW Neocon Senator suggests that the US may need to get further involved?
Tue Feb 19, 2013, 03:24 PM
Feb 2013

Oh, wait...

Sen. Coons: U.S. will likely have more active military role in Mali

The United States is likely to play a more active military role in Mali, where French-led forces are battling Islamist rebels, after the country holds elections, the chair of a key Senate sub-committee said Monday.

Washington has been providing intelligence, transport and mid-air refuelling to France, which launched its intervention last month, but cannot work directly with the Malian army until a democratically elected government replaces current leaders who came to power after a coup, said Christopher Coons (D-De), chair of the Senate foreign relations committee’s Africa sub-committee.

“There is the hope that there will be additional support from the United States in these and other areas, but … American law prohibits direct assistance to the Malian military following the coup,” Coons told journalists in the Malian capital.

“After there is a full restoration of democracy, I would think it is likely that we will renew our direct support for the Malian military,” added the senator, who led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mali to meet with interim president Dioncounda Traore and French and African defence officials.


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/18/sen-coons-u-s-will-likely-have-more-active-military-role-in-mali/

I can almost hear the drumbeat of "domino theory" in the distance.

And before someone accuses me of "maligning a democrat" again, like in this post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022396701

Keep in mind we've been down the slippery slope of bailing out the French before.

Of course it can't happen again.
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