Mitterrand ordered bombing of Rainbow Warrior, spy chief says

[emad]

July 11, 2005

Mitterrand ordered bombing of Rainbow Warrior, spy chief says
From Charles Bremner in Paris



FRANÇOIS MITTERRAND ordered the sinking of the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior, despite the late President’s denials at the time, France was told yesterday.

Exactly 20 years after the bungled operation in Auckland harbour, a report by Admiral Pierre Lacoste, who at the time was head of the DGSE, the French foreign intelligence service, was published by Le Monde.

In Operation Satanic, as the DGSE called the plan, three teams of secret agents used explosives to sink the vessel as it was preparing to sail to observe French nuclear testing at Mururoa atoll in the Pacific. Fernando Pereira, a Portuguese photographer, died in the attack.

In a scandal that continues to haunt France’s relations with Australasia, New Zealand arrested two DGSE officers who were posing as tourists. They were sentenced to long jail terms, but handed back to France in 1986.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1689202,00.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Too bad Mitterrand is dead

he should be charged with murder.

[Mass]

2. Because we are supposed to believe Lacoste on that?

Duh.

[Tinoire]

3. And people called these things "conspiracy theories". n/t

[applegrove]

4. He also made a deal with one African leader at Independence

to give the guy the most fertile region of French West Africa - in exchange for divide the two colonies of French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa (two huge colonies) into 10 separate nations. So the African leader ended up King of a country with fertile soil and embezzled billions. And the Africans ended up in 10 tiny wee countries. Easy to bully. Easy to play the aid game with. Easy to keep poor.

Much worse.

[Mass]

5. Mitterrand did that?

When?

He was the best president France had in 46 years. He was certainly not perfect, but in comparison with Chirac, I take 10 Mitterrands any day.

[applegrove]

6. He was the foreign minister's envoy to Africa at independence. Then

he worked his way up to more prominent political positions.

By the way - that African leader was building a church to rival St. Peters around the time he finally passed away. You should look up H-B (cannot remember the spelling of 'African Independence Leader's' last name) King of Cote d'Ivoire sometime.

Remember at the time there was the War with the Algerians. Those French played for keeps at the time.