rainbow warrior blown up by french secret service 10 July 1985

[niyad]

The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior

Background - November 5, 2007
In early 1985 the Rainbow Warrior had never looked better. It had a fresh coat of paint, a new radio and radar, and a complete engine overhaul. The crew remarked on how well the ship sailed. The ship was in Auckland, New Zealand, preparing to visit Moruroa Atoll for a major campaign against French nuclear testing. But the voyage was not to be.



Around 8.30pm, 10 July 1985, Jean-Michel Bartelo put on his scuba gear and slipped beneath the water, heading for the Rainbow Warrior

At the time, a French volunteer known as Frederique Bonlieu was helping out in the Greenpeace office in Auckland. But Bonlieu was in fact Christine Cabon, a French secret service agent. In the office, she folded letters, sealed envelopes and sorted address labels. In secret, she monitored communication from the Rainbow Warrior, collected maps and investigated underwater equipment. Her mission was to lay the groundwork for French saboteurs who were coming to sink the Rainbow Warrior.

The French wanted to stop Greenpeace's plans for a peaceful protest against nuclear testing. They were particularly concerned about Polynesians launching outrigger canoes from the Rainbow Warrior.

Polynesia is a French territory and the French feared any hint of independence.

. . . . .

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/history/the-bombing-of-the-rainbow-war/


greenpeace is currently building a new rainbow warrior

After 52 years at sea (21 years as a Greenpeace ship), the current Rainbow Warrior is heading for retirement. Your donation today will help us pay for the new, improved Rainbow Warrior.

The ship will be purpose-built and better equipped to tackle the great environmental threats of our time - like climate change, overfishing, destructing of forests and toxic chemicals poisoning the Earth.

The new custom-built Rainbow Warrior will enable us to take action, year after year, anywhere in the world. That persistence and dedication is what enables Greenpeace to win important victories. And we need those victories more now than ever before.
. . . . .

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/about/ships/the-rainbow-warrior/

The first bomb exploded at 11.38pm, lifting those in the mess off their seats. Davy Edwards rushed into the engine room to find a hole the size of a car, water pouring in. Everyone was ordered off the ship but some went back to grab possessions. Fernando Pereira, the ship's photographer, was one of them, perhaps going after his precious cameras. There was a second explosion and, caught in a rush of water, Pereira drowned.

The crew were in shock. They gave statements to the New Zealand police, who reacted swiftly to the first act of terrorism on their soil. Piecing together statements from members of the public, they were soon questioning a French couple, agents Prieur and Mafart of the French secret service.

[LiberalEsto]

1. I was aboard that Rainbow Warrior once

Many years ago, she came to the Raritan Bay in New Jersey to protest pollution by National Lead.
They held a press conference on board, and I was a local reporter, so I got to go.

[MicaelS]

2. Did you know....

During the era of nuclear testing France did 210 nuclear tests? Most of them at the southern Pacific testing ground. Note that was more than all the smaller powers combined.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_tests

US 1,054
USSR 715
France 210
UK 45
China 45
India 5 or 6
Pakistan 2
North Korea 2

[niyad]

3. yes, I did know. the environmental and cultural destruction resulting from those tests somehow

never seemed to garner much attention.

[MicaelS]

4. That was because the tests

Were way the hell out in the middle of nowhere in the S. Pacific. And any people they affected were not white.