French special forces kill AQIM fighter who had been exchanged for hostage

[Cincinnatus]

A joke: During the Revolutionary War when a British officer was captured by the French, the French interrogators asked why British officers wore red coats. He replied, "So that when we are shot, our troops will not see the blood and continue fighting". Ever since then French officers and troops have worn brown pants.....

At least the French are showing more backbone today than our president....

That's a funny joke. I like it.
Yet, the reputation the French have as frog-eating surrender monkeys is of chiefly post WWI origin. For most of the 19th century and even prior, Germans were thought of as poets and thinkers, whereas French were seen as all things martial. Most military manuals were written in French; the greatest soldier of the age, Napoleon, led the French. At the time of the American Civil War, to study German military thought was thought laughable, and almost all American officers, who studied any manuals or military thought at all, studied the French. It was the French that most of Europe was afraid of and most Europeans made alliances against.
Napoleon and his legacy was what defined most military thought in the 19th century: Jomini, and even Clausewitz, developed their thought while studying Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars. It was not until the Prussians united Germany and began whipping up on the French in the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71, under a genius named Moltke, that this began to change.
However, even in WWI, at least in 1914-1916, the French soldiers were some of the bravest and most gung-ho of any soldiers in history. To see what I mean, look up the theories of Ardant du Picq; he personified the same kind of absolute fearless, charge-into-battle, gut-eating detrmination that the Japanese did in the Russo-Japanese War, and in the Pacific.

[weggy]

I do believe the French Underground saved the lives of a good number of Allied pilots during WWll! Very brave people they knew they were dead if they were caught!

[Benito]

At least the French are showing more backbone today than our president....

Don't be too hard on the Pres. He shows plenty of backbone when it comes to sticking it to gun owners (pushing gun control at every turn), people who support the Constitution (targeting them with IRS audits), veterans (VA), our allies (undermining them by arming and funding the Muslim Brotherhood), and the Constitution (using it as toilet paper).

[Benito]

I somehow forgot the crowning achievement of his backbone, that he absolutely will not compromise no matter what. Shutting down criticism of Islam. From proclaiming that "the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam", to justifying the evils of ISIS by asserting that they have "legitimate economic grievances", to covering up Benghazi and blaming it on a Youtube film.
Say what you will, but this is a man of firm convictions.