September 02, 2003
EXPERT ADVICE
An unholy Coalition of the Willing:
Argentine ex-dictator General Reynaldo Bignone has admitted that 8,000 people were kidnapped and killed during the 1976-83 military regime, and said the church leadership had given its approval to torture practices.
The regime's brutal repression of opponents was modelled directly on the Battle of Algiers, he said. French instructors gave conferences and consultations on how to carry out the strategy.
Bignone seems to be indicating that French veterans of the war in Algeria were the “instructors”. It will be interesting to find out if the French government knew of this, or whether the instructors were freelancing. Their students ended up killing a bunch of Argentina-based French nuns.
Posted by Tim Blair at September 2, 2003 01:27 PM8,000?
The new movie about the regime makes it 30,000 and still it bombs.
Posted by: ilibcc at September 2, 2003 at 04:01 PMReminds me of the Pope personally blessing Tariq Aziz.
They like any kind of facist dictatorships so long as they aren't atheistic commies. Sometimes it seems they like facist governments more than democracies.
Posted by: Andjam at September 2, 2003 at 08:38 PMHenry Kissinger was going to work for the Bush Adminstration untill he ignobly resigend. The french might have done wrong also, but please, place blame where it belongs - Square on Wanted War Criminal Henry Kissinger.
Posted by: Hipocrite at September 2, 2003 at 11:34 PMWhy would anyone go to the French for advice on winning a war? And why would anyone want to model their strategy on the French in Algeria, they lost there?
Posted by: Jabba the Nutt at September 3, 2003 at 12:33 AMFrench counterinsurgency is much more responsible
for what are known as the "CIA-Pentagon horrors"
in Latin America, than most want to credit. Eg;
Romeo Lucas, early 80s Guatemalan strongman, an
actual St. Cyr grad as was S. African terror
bureaucrat Magnus Malan ; D'Arbuisson, salvadoran
warlord,educated by French,& Israeli's but only
his SOA tie is indicated. Their first generation
of advisors like Gestapo Vichy man Ricord, is responsible for the S. American narcotics
connection.(Extra credit; for which American official was involved in much of these early dealings as well as financing the French Indochina war: Oliver Stone's pere)
It's unilateralism like this that gives U.S. unilateralism a bad name.
Posted by: Tongue Boy at September 3, 2003 at 01:36 AM