Irish Military Online is in no way affiliated with the Irish Defence Forces. It is in no way sponsored or endorsed by the Irish Defence Forces or the Irish Government. Opinions expressed by the authors and contributors of this site are not necessarily those of the Defence Forces. If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
The Syrian campaign has been responsible for over spill into Israel only not actively engaging in Israeli positions that would be crazy even for a suicide bomber. Editing done as Idont want to get into an argument with anyone over this especially if u haven't served in undof
Paul - always enjoy reading your posts as you're coming from a well researched position.
I've had a few drinks so, not doing justice to a proper reply - but my wariness on a larger Mali deployment stems from the possible consequences for the DF.
We've got to do more and have to offer more as a state to our EU neighbours, that's not in question.
Really for me it boils down to: politically, would the state continue to support a deployment to Mali if there was an Islamist attack on Dublin, which was ostensibly in retaliation for that same deployment?
I have a major doubt that we would. And I have concerns about where that would leave the DF.
I don't doubt that we're a target anyway and that an attack could happen at any time. But a deployment abroad in response to an attack at home is a different scenario.
I'm not debating the moral obligation to help our neighbours, the fight has to be taken to IS. It's the political dimension that worries me. The bottle or lack thereof.
Basically, I don't want us to wind up like Japan and enter a period where we're pathologically opposed to deployments.
That being said...
A few weeks ago one of the posters from north of the border said that if there was a referendum then neutrality would be enshrined in the constitution, but I’m not so sure, neutrality is something everybody likes but nobody really thinks about or understands, and nobody really can define what it is . The one recent test Lisbon was not fair, the hard left ran a good campaign around “conscription”, it was the height of the Iraq war, and more important there was no message to refute their claims, the Clowen government was distracted as it was aware that the shit was about to hit the fan and that the economy was nose diving.
If you look at Ireland though, we’ve been neutral for very different reasons at different times.
ISIS are not a bunch of head bangers, they really do want to restore the Caliphate, and destabilise Algeria, Morocco and Northern Nigeria and if that happens then what is happening in the med at the moment will be small fry compared to what might occur.
What is happening is serious enough i think to seriously worry people, and as things get worse, and i think it will over the coming months they will then the resolve to do something will stiffen.
Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has announced that the soldiers will support the French-led peacekeeping mission within Mali. Last week's hostage crisis has stoked fears of the African country's destabilization.
Germany currently has nine soldiers in Mali taking part in the UN-led Minusuma mission and 200 as part of the European Union Training Mission.
The German defense minister's announcement comes less than two weeks after the terrorist attacks in Paris killed 130 and less than one week after gunmen stormed a hotel in Mali's capital Bamako, killing at least 19.
The attacks in Paris have brought France to the forefront of the hunt to root out terrorist threats around the world. It already has thousands of troops in its former colony Mali, but the recent attack in Bamako has intensified fears that the African country is still unable to prevent terrorist groups from operating within its borders, particularly in its unstable north.
Von der Leyen said that the decision aimed to help relieve military pressure on France, as it is overstrained in its fight against the "Islamic State."
She added that Germany is planning to increase the number of soldiers training Kurdish peshmerga forces combating the Islamic State in Iraq to 150 from 100.
French forces intervened in northern Mali in 2013 to help overthrow Toureg and Islamist rebel groups who had established control over large swaths of territory there the year before.
International peacekeeping missions have since sought to maintain security in Mali.
The German parliament first decided to send soldiers to Mali as part of the European Union Training Mission in Februrary 2013, at the request of Mali's government under the authorization the United Nations Security Council. It extended its mandate earlier this year through May of 2016 and lifted its potential troop number to 350.
The decision to send the additional 650 soldiers must still be approved by the German parliament.
Minister Simon Coveney must address the potential dangers involved in sending Irish soldiers to replace French forces, Ryan McCarrel writes.
Are we willing to risk Irish lives by sending troops to Mali or Lebanon?
I post the article to only show that the author needs a sub editor to check his work.
Increasing the total number of soldiers available for international deployments from around 400 to 850 has also been on the minister’s agenda for some time now.
Eh no. There has always been ~10% of the DF available for International deployments.
I know I must resist reading the comments on these things but you got to love the one that says if ISIS attacked Ireland the IRA would go apeshit and bomb the hell out of ISIS
If it was anywhere it was always going to be the Leb...
Jesus I hope not. An even bigger contingent in the Leb just sets the DF back further in terms of gaining operational experience and increasing the difficulty or robustness of our missions.
We process personal data about users of our site, through the use of cookies and other technologies, to deliver our services, personalize advertising, and to analyze site activity. We may share certain information about our users with our advertising and analytics partners. For additional details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
By clicking "I AGREE" below, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our personal data processing and cookie practices as described therein. You also acknowledge that this forum may be hosted outside your country and you consent to the collection, storage, and processing of your data in the country where this forum is hosted.
Comment