There are only two countries in the world that, from day one, have grasped the full meaning of 911 and its aftermath --France and Algeria. French and Algerians were not duped by the US jive about al-Qaeda, bin Laden and whatnot.... They know that the so-called "Al Qaeda" is but the Judeofascist avatar of the infamous O.A.S. Clues:
Histoire secrète de L'OAS [Organisation Armée Secrète]
Georges Fleury
Essay
~1000 pages
The Author
Georges Fleury's works are many and varied, alternating accounts of wars and stories about animals. A novelist and historian, he wrote the highly successful Tuez De Gaulle! (Grasset, 1999). Enrolled when still very young in the marine commandos, he fought in Algeria and for the "French Algeria" cause. This much awaited history of the O.A.S. (Organisation Armée secrète, an illegal military organization supporting French rule of Algeria) is also his own story.
The Book
The Organisation Armée Secrète was born in Madrid on February 11, 1961. Its founders, Pierre Lagaillarde and Jean-Jacques Susini, soon asked General Salan to accept the leadership of the military group that was born in the fear and anger provoked by the looming independence of Algeria. After the failed putsch of Algiers in 1961, the O.A.S. welcomed deserters from the army, former secret agents, monarchists, French colons who refused to leave Algeria. Until its disappearance, the O.A.S. remained a violent and impenetrable nebula.
When the Generals Salan and Jouhaud were in command of the O.A.S. in Algeria, the organisation launched a terrorist campaign on the French mainland. The aim was to make De Gaulle change his mind on his project of auto-determination for the Algerian population. But the effect was the contrary; they succeeded in representing the O.A.S. as a repulsive group.
Yet, politicians - whose names are revealed here, followed these actions from the shadows, right up to the failed attack on the life of Malraux, on February 7, 1962, that disfigured a little girl and earned national disgust for the perpetrators. From then on the O.A.S. continued their hopeless and brutal combat. They "held" Oran for two months in spite of the efforts of General Katz, whose henchmen, the deltas, carried out executions in the streets of Algeria, even destroying the barbouzes recruited by the Elysée. Until Jean-Jacques Susini decided to make a deal with the F.L.N., the Algerian independence fighters. But it was too late, the majority of French people, sick of the hatred and bombs, had been reconciled to the fact that French Algeria was a thing of the past.
A superb account, providing a fascinating and convincing portrait gallery of politicians in a desperate situation, men and women in clandestinity, war dogs and maniacs. The official history is artfully blended with its shady secrets, lies and symbols, revealing much previously unknown information about the organization, its ideology and networks. No really thorough book has been written on the subject until now.
edition-grasset.fr
Sharon's Algerian shadow
The Globe and Mail, May 7, 2002
Andrew Mack
Director, Human Security Centre
Ariel Sharon's recent bedtime reading has included a magisterial study of Algeria's war for independence against France. His choice is not surprising (and may inform his talks today with George W. Bush about a Middle East settlement). But if the war's history is instructive for both Israelis and the Palestinians, the lessons each draws from it are very different.
For Palestinians, Algeria's savage but successful liberation struggle shows how the weak can defeat the powerful politically -- even after being crushed militarily. It offers hope to a nationalist movement that, like Algeria's FLN, is hopelessly outgunned by a determined and clever adversary. Israelis, not surprisingly, reject the parallel.
The armed struggle against the French in Algeria started in 1954. Eight years later, the Algerians had won their independence, and the French -- including more than a million embittered French settlers -- had slunk back to France.
The war was fought with unremitting ferocity on both sides. Like the Palestinians, the Algerians mounted a terror-bombing campaign against civilians, sometimes employing women bomb-deliverers. There were more than 42,000 terrorist attacks during the independence struggle, according to the French -- though many of these were perpetrated by French settler extremists.
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