This letter is in response to the letter “Let the French take care of Ivory Coast,” on Nov. 9. Equating the French involvement in the Ivory Coast to American involvement in Iraq is not only ignorant, but it is foolhardy.

First, it is ignorant because France is not there to “protect its national interests.”

France is in the Ivory Coast because, unlike Americans, the French understand the word “responsibility.” The Ivory Coast is a former French colony, and, therefore, many problems date back to French control.

The French are there to help fix a problem they may have caused. Not only that, they are also helping to stabilize what has been labeled “the most stable government in Africa.” The destabilization of the Ivory Cost would lead to the possible destabilization of the entire region.

Second, the letter is foolhardy because it further perpetrates American arrogance and ignorance. “U.N. Forces” are simply troops of some country (the United States Armed Forces were “U.N. Forces” in the Gulf War) that have earned the right and respect to cary the peaceful U.N. flag above their troops to show they are there to protect peace, not war.

Unlike the United States, which barged into Iraq on falsified evidence and claims of threats to our security, the French entered the Ivory Coast at the request of both the government and the rebelling faction.

If anyone wishes to question my knowledge on this, go ahead and question it — I went to school with people displaced by this civil war.

The French were sent to protect people. They have managed to protect people from everywhere in a conflict they didn’t start.

Trevin Ward

Sophomore

Computer Engineering