Before you start feeling good and hoping for French casualties in the Ivory Coast, remember Mogadishu. The French went into the Ivory Coast to save lives and are now about to lose them. The difference between then and now? Clinton had no commitment. The French do because thousands of French citizens live there.

Pro-government mobs armed with everything from assault rifles to stones demanded a return Tuesday to all-out war against Ivory Coast's rebels and threatened attacks on French civilians in the country if French peacekeeping troops refuse to clear the way.

Remember that this is STILL a colony, no matter what the pretense.

"We give an ultimatum to the French. . . . They have to leave the front line," militant youth leader Narcisse N'Depo said at the military base. "If not, the next targets will be the residences, houses, goods and interests belonging to the French. All that is French will be attacked."

Terrorists will terrorize.