Pave: Illegitimate And Illegal – OK By France

Le jour 153 de Sarko

We consider that all military action not endorsed by the international community, through, in particular, the Security Council, was both illegitimate and illegal, is illegitimate and illegal. And we have not changed our view on that.

Then-Jack, Now Ex-Jack,
le combattant de la paix,
explaining the internationalist ethics
that circumscribed his foreign policy
ÉVIAN-LES-BAINS June 3, 2003 (BBC)

It's always reassuring to know that in this big bad world there is France. A France that lays down the law for all to follow -- though for France this same law is optional. Most especially optional when most especially bothersome.

We bring all this up because France's most notorious quasi-governmental agent of "illegitimate and illegal" military actions, Bob Denard (né Gilbert Bourgeaud,* April 7, 1929 – October 13, 2007), has passed on.

FRENCH MERCENARY, COMOROS COUP-PLOTTER BOB DENARD DIES

PARIS October 14, 2007 (VOA) - Bob Denard was a well known figure in France, and in a number of postcolonial countries. Over several decades he was involved in uprisings in a number of African and Middle Eastern countries. He also was involved in in four coups or coup attempts in the Comoros Islands, where he served for a while as head of the presidential guard.

French author Jean Guisner, who has followed Denard's career and written extensively about the French government, says Denard did nothing that was contrary to French interests - and he allegedly acted in close cooperation with intelligence services.

This, of course, was not the same as doing nothing illegal -- or immoral for that matter, neither of which are proscribed in the furtherance of French interests.

In 1999, Denard was cleared of being involved in the assassination of the president of Comoros, Ahmed Abdallah. But last year, a court in Paris gave him a five-year suspended sentence for his part in a 1995 coup attempt. The court said the French secret services were aware of that plot.

At the time the court remarked:

Il est impossible et impensable, constate-t-elle, qu'une opération qui a perduré pendant 131 jours (...) ait pu être méconnue des services secrets et de la cellule africaine de l'Elysée. (Et de souligner : ) Il est tout aussi manifeste qu'au moins (les services secrets français) n'avaient rien fait pour entraver (le coup d'Etat) et qu'ils l'avaient donc laissé arriver à son terme. En conséquence, c'est que les responsables politiques l'avaient nécessairement voulu aussi.

[It is impossible and inconceivable, the court notes, that an operation lasting over 131 days (...) could be unknown to the secret service and the African cell of the Élysée. (And for emphasis:) It is also obvious at the very least (the French secret service) did nothing to block (the coup d'etat) and thus let it come to pass. In effect, the politicians essentially wanted this also.]

The court went on to cite the certain but unprovable complicity of the French government as an extenuation in its sentencing of M. Denard.

With M. Denard's passing there is that much less left to remind the French of French perfidies of which the French have little to no awareness and no appetite to know. Here at Pave we remember M. Denard and his exploits on behalf of France because much of France would just as soon not know as forget.

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* A convert to Islam, M. Denard's Islamic name was Said Mustapha Mahdjoub.

PFFT (What is this?): Remembrance, our civic tittle for the Republic 4½ | Rayonnement français 0