A Western Imperialist Colonial Power Indiscriminately Fires Into a Peaceful Crowd

The media won't care, of course, because it's the French firing like Krazy Kapitalist Kowboys at innocent dark-skinned people.

Even the short "sample" video is slow to download. I tried uploading it myself, but at 1MB, it's too big for this site (at least as the rules stand). Daily Recycler, this is a job for you.

Meanwhile, The Age (Australia) reports on rampant criminality of French "terror" squads under Mitterand. (Requires relatively painless registration.)

Some highlights:

A bugging scandal dubbed the French Watergate is finally coming to court more than two decades after the late President Francois Mitterrand ordered the tapping of the telephones of hundreds of French personalities.

Twelve of the former president's closest aides face charges of violation of privacy for allegedly monitoring conversations to prevent damaging facts about his private life reaching the public. The trial in Paris, due to have started yesterday, comes after an investigation marked by a suspicious death and anonymous tip-offs.

...

At its launch, Mr Mitterrand said the unit's task was to "fight terrorism". But according to the prosecution, the unit spent most of its time making sure the French public was kept in the dark over the president's extra-marital affair with Anne Pingeot, and about their daughter, Mazarine, now 29.

Hmmm... maybe we should heed their warnings about overreacting to terror threats. They seem to know the dangers of doing so first-hand.

The unit eavesdropped on a bewildering array of prominent people from 1983 to 1986, recording more than 3000 conversations. Many of the notes bear the word "Seen" in the president's own hand.

...

The man who came under the closest scrutiny was Jean-Edern Hallier, a writer and former confidant of the president, allegedly disgruntled at not receiving a plum post in the Mitterrand administration.

Mr Hallier's every move was noted after he voiced plans to publish a book on the president's flamboyant private life, called Tonton and Mazarine - or The Lost Honour of Francois Mitterrand.

Tonton, which means uncle, was the president's nickname. When he threatened to talk about the book on television, the unit had the show axed..

All French-bashing aside, it's an important caution about unchecked or under-scrutinized state power. Even if you trust George Bush as a man who would never resort to such deviousness and criminality -- and, well, frankly, I personally don't so trust him; in the words of Tom from Miller's Crossing, "Nobody knows anybody-- not that well" -- then it must still be remembered that whatever powers are granted to Bush will more than likely still be extant when Hillary Rodham becomes the 44th President of the United States.

Thanks to Moonbat_One for the video, Stan for the Mitterand story.

posted by Ace at 05:44 AM

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