John Erickson wrote:
>
> > At one
> >stage I had to help draw up some contingency plans in the event of war
> >with France.
> Umm....Australia and France were close to war? When and why? Or
> is my idiocy showing through again?
L'affaire Greenpeace.
Basically, some French Military Special Forces planted a mine on the
Greenpeace vessel "Rainbow Warrior" in Auckland Harbour, and killed
someone in the process. They got caught red-handed.
There was a plan to send in a group of Uniformed French Commandos to
rescue them from jail. Regardless of civilian casualties. We heard about
it (from whom and how is another matter).
Imagine if, say some Libyan military had been caught in, say, Halifax
after sinking a ship full of dissidents. And then a batallion of Libyan
troops landed in Canada, storming the jail, and killing many people. I
suspect the reaction of the USA would have been more than just harsh
words in the UN.
The comparison is apt: and attack on New Zealand is an attack on
Australia, the way an attack on Canada is an attack on the USA.
BTW the people who committed this murder were transferred to a French
pacific island to serve out the rest of their sentences. The French
Government then tore up the agreement after 18 months and not merely
released them, but gave them medals.
--
aebrain_at_... <> <> How doth the little Crocodile
| Alan & Carmel Brain| xxxxx Improve his shining tail?
| Canberra Australia | xxxxxHxHxxxxxx _MMMMMMMMM_MMMMMMMMM
100026.2014 compuserve o OO*O^^^^O*OO o oo oo oo oo
By pulling MAERKLIN Wagons, in 1/220 Scale
See http://www.z-world.com/graphics/z/master/8856.gif for picture
Received on Sat May 24 1997 - 20:45:35 UTC
