Lebanon - Irish Peacekeepers ?

Ponster

I just noticed a list on the BBC website as a possible formation of the UN force being sent to the Middle East and noticed that Ireland isn't included.

Any talk of this back home? I thought that with our history there, that we'd be naturally be sending troops.

These are the countries that might take part and the forces they might send:

France - 4-5,000

Italy - 2-3,000

Malaysia - 1,000

Turkey - 800-1,200

Indonesia - 850

Spain -700

Finland - 200

Brunei -200

Australia - a "small niche"

Germany - possible naval and police forces

Portugal - to be determined

Belgium - to be determined

The 2,000 troops in Unifil will also be used.

The US and UK will not contribute.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4794673.stm



EDIT : Just realised that as we have troops in UNIFI we already have people on the ground there but I'm talking about sending new troops.

IrishAirCorps

Dont worry it will happen!

muletide

In the region of 100 -120 troops more than likely. Could be possibly Engineer/Medical or other specialised troops

IrishAirCorps

Maybe a few of these boyo's?

thesweeney

I didnt think Australia would send anyone...interesting

pucan

Australia has a large lebanese population. The only reasons they wouldn't contribute is them being rejected by the lebanese because of their support for the US/Israel or because they are fairly stretched capability-wise between Iraq and their New Guinea/East Timor commitments.

armchairninja

Ponster wrote:

EDIT : Just realised that as we have troops in UNIFI we already have people on the ground there but I'm talking about sending new troops.

Didnt the Irish Army pull out if UNIFIL about 5 years ago after 20+ years, there was a programme on RTE about it one night about the History of Camp Shamrock.

And personally I cant see Ireland sending troops in for a while as they are more of a peace keeping force than a peacemaking force and in the current climate it would primarily the latter for a while, inmo!

babybundy

no they a have had observers since they pull most of the bodies out wats wrong with a peace making force east timor was i hope they are given a similer mandate going in

armchairninja

I think the difference with East Timor was that it was mainly the ARW(open to correction), but also, when dealing with Lebanon, i would see us as a nation being left open to terrorist attacks from Hezbollah extremists/sympathisers.
And I think sending Ireland over to make peace would be wrong, as we are proven to be some of the best peacekeepers in the world, and that we would not necessarily have the skills to make the peace, the majority of the DF wouldnt really have the training for it imho

muletide

armchairninja wrote:

I think the difference with East Timor was that it was mainly the ARW(open to correction), but also, when dealing with Lebanon, i would see us as a nation being left open to terrorist attacks from Hezbollah extremists/sympathisers.
And I think sending Ireland over to make peace would be wrong, as we are proven to be some of the best peacekeepers in the world, and that we would not necessarily have the skills to make the peace, the majority of the DF wouldnt really have the training for it imho

No sorry it was ARW for the first year and then platoons drawn from Infantry Battalions for the next 2 and a half years

sorry double post

muletide

armchairninja wrote:

I think the difference with East Timor was that it was mainly the ARW(open to correction), but also, when dealing with Lebanon, i would see us as a nation being left open to terrorist attacks from Hezbollah extremists/sympathisers.
And I think sending Ireland over to make peace would be wrong, as we are proven to be some of the best peacekeepers in the world, and that we would not necessarily have the skills to make the peace, the majority of the DF wouldnt really have the training for it imho

No sorry it was ARW for the first year and then platoons drawn from Infantry Battalions for the next 2 years

The second half of your post makes no sense try reading it again

armchairninja

The second half of your post makes no sense try reading it again

Yeah, your rite, sounded better in my head:o ,

Basically what im trying to say is that the DF wouldn't really be trained to make peace, we would be more suited to maintaining it, after all its mostly what our overseas ops have been centred on

cushtac

armchairninja wrote:

Yeah, your rite, sounded better in my head:o ,

Basically what im trying to say is that the DF wouldn't really be trained to make peace, we would be more suited to maintaining it, after all its mostly what our overseas ops have been centred on

Could the DF not be trained to 'make' peace as well as keep it? The DF trains for a lot of roles and is a very versitile organisation, there's no reason they could not adapt for peacemaking too.

leeroybrown

Isn't the current Irish deployment in Liberia used in a peace-enforcement role which is more like the kind of peace-making role that is envisioned for the Lebanon?

babybundy

to keep and enforce peace you must be able to make it and i think there is still logistics in east timor not 100% on that but a few have said that in a chat

Maskhadov

we should have contributed a battalion to south lebannon at least.

babybundy

there is a coy of 120 being preliminaryly formed from the southern brigade awaiting the go a head cant send any more than that

Maskhadov

decent enough i guess

babybundy

for wat they are aloud no. wise thats not offical yet just word of mouth lads are being giving the heads up and list been drawn up so they can hand the list over once they are asked

Flying

Lads amazing where you get your info as it is wrong, we are over streched oversea's, the Chief of Staff told the government Quote " Were exactly are we going to get these troops", There will be no troops going to the Lebanon.

Why as we have a full battalion in Liberia, A Company in Kosovo and other smaller commitments.

My Father is a BSM in the army and his words are we cant get enough for escorts let alone Lebanon, it is armchair experts flapping again.

We have a small army we are heavily overstreched between ATCP and Regimental duties about 95% and the other 5% on the long term sick.

And also if they ever went they cannot repeat the 6 Month drinking session that a lot of them did when they were last there.

babybundy

duties wats the fca there for might as well use them thats wat they are trained for

Flying

babybundy wrote:

duties wats the fca there for might as well use them thats wat they are trained for

The FCA or RDF are currently of zero use, they lack both training and discpline and have no actual role.

Maybe disbanding the RDF and setting it up along the lines of the British TA as it is currently another drinking club and costs the taxpayer unnecessary money for people playing games.

But it was setup as a polticial entity moreso than military but if they got their act together maybe, but I doubt it at this stage

Ponster

Final list of countries up, Flyer wins

fightin irish

leeroybrown wrote:

Isn't the current Irish deployment in Liberia used in a peace-enforcement role which is more like the kind of peace-making role that is envisioned for the Lebanon?

From what i understood (two friends served twice in liberia) said that initally they were ''peace enforcers''. Took all the weapons off the streets via payments of monies etc, And after a certain time the weapons would be forcefully removed...he didn't say if they ever had to.

Maybe some PDF ppl here might confirm this.

babybundy

Flying wrote:

The FCA or RDF are currently of zero use, they lack both training and discpline and have no actual role.

Maybe disbanding the RDF and setting it up along the lines of the British TA as it is currently another drinking club and costs the taxpayer unnecessary money for people playing games.

But it was setup as a polticial entity moreso than military but if they got their act together maybe, but I doubt it at this stage

thats funny cause i no people who regularly do duties with the pdf and my LT is ord. officer in clonmel every few weeks yes disipline is a problem with the last 2 or 3 years recruits but days of drinking sessions are gone (well in my unit they are ) and since the the re-org the units are being run a good bit better on the most part