France is expected to soon rejoin NATO’s military command after a 40-year absence. The French government withdrew from the NATO military structure in 1966 (although remaining a member of NATO’s political-policy structure). France’s new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has placed strong emphasis on France’s relationship with the United States. And, he recently declared that he would soon undertake “very strong” initiatives on European defense and give France “its full place” in NATO.
Subsequently, Defense Minister Herve Morin said that he was “convinced that European defense will make no progress unless France changes its political behavior
within NATO.”
Then-general Dwight D. Eisenhower established NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) as the principal command of NATO’s military forces in Paris in early 1951. The headquarters remained in the Paris area until in February 1966, when French President Charles de Gaulle stated that the changed world order had “stripped NATO of its justification” for military integration and that France was therefore justified in re-asserting its sovereignty over French territory. Consequently, all allied forces within France’s borders would have to come under
French control by April 1969.
Soon afterward, France stated that it was withdrawing from the NATO military structure and that the NATO Headquarters, the NATO Defence College, and SHAPE and its subordinate headquarters must leave French territory by April 1967. (NATO Headquarters was based in Paris, in the Palais de l’OTAN, currently occupied by the Universit Paris-Dauphine.)
Subsequently, NATO’s military headquarters were relocated to Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons.
Despite having withdrawn from the NATO military structure, French naval forces conducted bilateral exercises with other NATO navies, including the U.S. Navy. And, certain U.S.-French weapon agreements were undertaken, especially for upgrading American-built tanker aircraft and ship-launched missiles. The French joined other NATO forces in the Bosnia conflict as well as the 1991 assault on Iraq to free Kuwait, which Iraqi forces had taken over the previous summer.
Although the previous French government was not supportive of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the French did send forces to Afghanistan. However, earlier this year France withdrew its 200-strong special forces from Afghanistan; those ground troops were participating in the U.S anti-terror operation code-named Enduring Freedom. The then-Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said, “There is a general reorganization of our [troops].” However, the 1,100 French troops engaged in the separate, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force remain in Afghanistan.
U.S. forces have also worked with French forces in Djibouti in northeast Africa. (Djibouti is a small, impoverished republic just north of the Horn of Africa on the strait of Bab el-Mandeb. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea, an area of great political and economic turmoil.)
The United States has used the French military-air base in Djibouti for several combat and support operations in the region. Indeed, the case can be made thatdespite its public stance?the French have been most helpful to several U.S. military activities.
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It might be worth adding that the French “force de frappe” owes much of its force to the design secrets for miniaturizing nukes that were shared by the US. As much as we resented Gallic bluster, there were times when every warhead available to whack the bad guys counted, even if it was French.
This is interesting to me. With the French re-aligning itself with the U.S. (well officially at least) it could be argued that maybe European sentiment towards the U.S. will change for the better. Maybe this’ll have a ripple effect in Europe and more countries will return to more friendly relations with the U.S.
Or maybe this has more to do with the Euro gaining more ground as an ‘the’ international currency over the U.S. Dollar.
Hopefully this will mean the french will remove their non combat caveats on their troops in Afghanistan and come and join the fight with the British, US and Canadians in the south.
As an aside, it was Churchill who was responsible for passing on the technology for the french A-bomb.
I think if Guiliani, McCain, Obama or Clinton get into the White House, then you’ll see a marked shift in sentiment towards the US from abroad.
Until that happens.. or until the US announces its departure from Iraq, the same sentiment that the US is a semi-dictatorial, militaristic, empirial power will continue.
As they say, actions speak louder than words…
It would be a questionable idea to allow France back in Nato. Governments change and France is likely to revert to interests inimical to the United States as their arab population increases.
My biggest problem with “France” is why have they been so indifferent towards Goverments especially the “US” who Liberated them during WWII ?? I see this as being “Ungrateful”!!
Bout time. Hopefully they will be a little more friendly to the Americans now. My dislike of France comes from how they treated us after WW2, and how they left us high and dry in NAM. But with this new government that will never happen again.
I ment to add that Hopefully it will never happen again.
Are those French grunts in the picture? The kit looks Swedish.
did you see that new iranian saeqeh aircraft
they call it the thunder fighter
better watch out u.s because iran is commin to get ya
“Maybe this’ll have a ripple effect in Europe and more countries will return to more friendly relations with the U.S.”
The same way liberating Iraq caused a ripple effect of peace and democracy across the Middle East?
Will France have the guts to stick with a fight though? They left us in Nam, will that ever happen again? The France military is top notch but there polititions stink hopefully they have changed enough that they wont cut and run (like the Democrats want to do).
Sarkozy is the most intelligent LEADER in the EU, by far. The UK appears to be losing its will for Iraq/GWOT, so maybe the French are back in the game. Talk about a balance of power shift in the EU.
That said, it will be of little benefit. The only new ally that the US needs is China. They have the bodies, the money, the will, and the common global interest (oil) to lay a smack down on the Salafi Jihadists. We would have to give up certain Asian interest to buy them out, but it would be worth it, now, and in the long term.
I am a non-partisan, but Bush has to go, he has no new ideas, and no credibility. Either Rudy or Hillary would be much better, although I really hate both of them.
to anti-american:
The JF-17 Thunder is a chinese built aircraft. It is being exported to many different countries. It is a modern day F-5 freedom fighter. The chinese capitalized on the market the F-20 Tigershark lost when the US decided not to build it.
Still nothing in the air comes close to the F-22. The best pilots in the USAF can’t even shoot it down in simulated air to air.
No worries.
The US should get closer to India than anybody else in that area. wat happens when they kill Musharraff? its not an if, its WHEN. China? they are looking out for #1, and continuosly spy on us coz they are so far behind technically. India has the manpower, they hate p-stan, who will be an enemy eventually, and should be armed by the west. P-stan, has it really helped so much in this war? they surrendered the NWFP’s, now the t-ban and AQ hide behind P-stani sovereignty. p-stan does not, and cannot enforce law in these border areas. these areas should be hit by air for 5 days around the clock followed up by air-ssaults and paratroops to engage and kill as many hadji’s as possible. NWFP is a free fire zone. to hell with p-stan, thier whole population hates us. this is a war of wat culture survives and thrives. F-the moslems, they would kill you in a heartbeat.
united states and britain are the enemies of peace
alway want o go to war
9/11 was inside job osama had nothing to do with 9/11..u.s government set up the conspiracy
and george bush duck cheney all should be executed………
I’m no French lover by any means, but to the poster that has twice remarked about France ditching us in Vietnam – what are you on?
The French military has very good reasons for despising the US after our lack of support during Dien Bien Phu – we left those French soldiers with no support knowing full well how Asians treat POWs (after our experiences in WWII and Korea).
US air power could have saved that base just as it did years later in a similar fight at Khe Sanh, but Eisenhower just sat back and let them get slaughtered.
Granted it was a French f-up that put them in that spot, but it was a straight yes/no question for Eisenhower whether to bail them out or not…he let them get overrun and set the stage for the US War in Vietnam less than a decade later.
So how exactly did the French let *us* down in Vietnam?
Actually,
President (General) De Gaulle and his country insisted in 1966 that NATO adopt a “first strike” policy in defence of the alliance against the Eastern Bloc. NATO rejected this and thus the rift between France and the remaining NATO nations developed. France refused to subjucate it’s national defence to the alliance policy and removed itself from the NATO military cooperation and also directed the NATO headquarters leave France.
BT- so the Brits are losing the will to fight?
Tell that to the British Army Battlegroups in Helmand, Southern Af who are leading NATO in some of the most intense fighting anywhere in the world everyday. Tell that to SAS, SFSG who are covertly killing insurgents in Baghdad and throughout Iraq. Or to SBS who are doing the same throughout Af. Or maybe you’d like to say it to the faces of my buddies in the Irish Guards who, despite US media reports are still in Basra and have managed to consistently keep the peace a lot better than their brothers in the north.
A word of advice; don’t- you’ll get slotted.
Another word of advice would be; a bit more gratitude to Britain and it’s military who’ve stood by the United States since 9/11 and long before…and there’ll be no danger of the Brits leaving you in the lurch
carpteros,
As an active duty US Army officer, I wanted you to know that I appreciate everything the UK and the British Army has done for the United States. You are our brothers, we have done the same and would do so again. I wish some Americans and UK citizens would get over the revolutionary war, and the useless banter! I for one would love to see us be one again. You would think that we could integrate our economies more closer than we are now. Remember we have your back as well.
Hi S Baker,
you should know the British, at least most of us, are extremely grateful for the alliance with US in WW2 and later in the cold war. It’s easily forgotten that in the Falklands you guys supplied us with fuel and new sidewinders at the last minute (despite the efforts of some in the State department) which may just have turned the war in our favour.
Regarding a closer union between our nations. I think we have little choice in the next century- all of Europe and the Anglosphere are going to have to stop bickering and stick together against global threats to our interests and way of life!
To SGT Rock:
The rifles in the picture are SIG-551 long-barrel version.
http://swissarms2.ath.cx/index.php?id=30&L=1
Hey anti american go to france you are just as worthless as they are and hope I never find you in my country because unlike france I follow through
Eisenhauer did send some of our planes over to Dien Bien Phu to help the French. I haven’t seen it mentioned in any of the history books but he sent some of our B-26s from Korea – My squadron was flying glass noses so we weren’t eligible – but they did go.
The problem was that they had waited so late the pilots almost had to get the Viet cong permission to land there. They were fired on by rifles and M-guns whenever they came in for a landing so they turned around and came back to Korea as they didn’t want to fly for the Cong. The French were already done for.
During WW2 we wondered if they were even on our side. We bombed some German troops in France and the French lodged complaints because we ruined some of their buildings and even killed a couple Frenchmen.
i think we should take care of our own here in the us before any place els right now ..
hell look at the reseravations for those of you that dont know this word native americans people tend to foprget we are here to but like always we fight for this country and stile get shitted on too lets take care of americans first then the others later
WELL,THE FRENCH CAN ALWAYS FIND A WHITE FLAG TO WAVE,IF THEY’RE CONFRONTED BY THE ENEMY.REMEMBER WWII ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I’m no Francophile by any means, but one would have thought that the enlightened decision by the new French government to reenter NATO would have received a positive response from more of you. Whatever France did or did not do in the past is no fault of Sarkozy’s.
The new French government is aggressively pushing for tougher sanctions against Iran and to rejoin NATO, and here are some of you griping over sh** that happened decades and centuries ago. Maybe that attitude explains why some of America’s allies are often so unwilling to step up to the plate.
I served with the French Special Forces in Afghanistan and would fight with them any day. Good people, great fighters and don’t ake any (&^%$.
1. The UN is a paper tiger with no clout except in the Newspaper world.
2.Anyone who believes they are worth ANYTHING should ask the Tooth Fairy for facts.
3. After all the French posturing, I want to see actual combat troops in country doing what needs to be done. There are real combat troops there, but a sissy govt does not help their cause.
4. SEMPER FI to the ROYAL MARINES, and GOD Bless the QUEEN.
i wanna joing but i dont have money
its to important to me have a producer software to make movies