France, the leading critic of American intervention saving Iraq from the murderous Batthist regime of Saddam Hussein, has been behaving very badly in the Ivory Coast. It sent its troops there with nary a nod to the United Nations, much less any authorization. Unilateral action, based on its own will and nothing more.

There have been ample reports of atrocities, including French troops firing into crowds of civillian Ivorians. The world press has found none of this newsworthy, of course.

So we have to turn to an African paper, the Star of Zambia for the following report:

The Ivory Coast wants French peacekeepers out.

"We want France to leave," Abdon Bayeto from the ruling Ivorian Popular Front told the BBC in Britain yesterday.

"If France is there as a peacekeeping force, anyone can replace them."

When asked if the party felt that French troops had been trying to harm President Laurent Gbagbo during the recent unrest, he said: "Why would the French helicopter go and shoot randomly at the president's home? Why would they do that if they don't want to take him out?"

Bayeto said the ruling party had a problem with French President Jacques Chirac but not with the French civilians who fled by the thousands last week after mass riots in the former French colony.

"We're not having a problem with the French companies in Africa. The problem is the policy of (Chirac) in Africa ... What we're fighting for today is for France to leave the Ivorian people alone."

Thomas Lifson  11 24 04