France Back In The NATO Fold

[Paul Rigby]

Assassination attempts against De Gaulle were partly blamed on the OAS (the Organisation de l'armée secrète or Organisation armée secrète).

They figure in spookily interesting Freddie Forsyth's Day of the Jackal.

Officially, the OAS were a very far right French nationalist group formed during the horrifically brutal colonial wars in Algeria.

However, there are persistent rumours that the OAS was part of the CIA/Nazi/Gehlen stay-behind Operation Gladio, which would throw an entirely different light on OAS assassination attempts on De Gaulle for refusing to allow France to be part of NATO.

Wiki contains some intriguing snippets on Gladio in France...

http://dlib.nyu.edu/eadapp/transform?sou...chives.xsl

New York University Archives: Guide to the Papers of Nicholas Wahl, 1944-1995

"De Gaulle Significance in French Political Tradition - CIA Seminar, Oct 1960: De Gaulle (1)Aron (2)NW; Pol. Change in France; Keys to de Gaulle - Erikson, Columbia '60 etc"

René Etiemble, Parlez-vous franglais? (1973 ed.), 37; the first edition was 1964.

Noting, for example, how the United Fruit company got the Pentagon's help to unseat Latin American rulers who interfered in its business, Etiemble wrote that one could understand "Washington's hate against the only European statesman who, since the 'Liberation,' dares resist the pretensions of the dollar. Since the OAS has not been able to get rid of him, and since they have not been able to buy him, American finance is out to get his hide" (234).

From our own correspondent (Washington, May 2), "U.S. Support For French Generals' Revolt/Mr.Allen Dulles' Denial," The Times, 3 May 1961, p.10:

“Mr. Allen Dulles, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, today appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations sub-committee for Latin America to explain the part his agency played in the Cuban fiasco. He appeared at a time when persistent reports from France that the CIA supported the revolt of the generals in Algeria continue to embarrass the Administration.

The reports, which appear to have been originated in the Soviet press, have been repeated and enlarged by French newspapers, and the White House thought it necessary to make discrete inquiries. The anti-communist fervour of the CIA agents is legendary, and it is a comment on the ways of this city that the Administration was obviously not at all certain whether some secret crusader had decided it was necessary to depose General de Gaulle in order to make North Africa safe for freedom and the capitalist system.

Inquiries among staffs

The State Department made inquiries among the staffs of its embassy and agencies in France and North Africa without uncovering a plot, but it is well known that CIA men rarely bother to inform the ambassador of their activities. The inquiry was extended to the CIA, and Mr. Dulles yesterday issued a solemn denial. ‘Any reports or allegations that the CIA may or any of its personnel had anything to do with the generals’ revolt were completely untrue,’ Mr. Dulles said.

But, alas, according to the New York Times, French opinion, both official and public, appears to believe that Mr. Dulles is only dutifully playing his part in an elaborate plot. Irritation in the Administration is reported because French officials are believed to be fanning suspicion instead of denying the reports.

Presumably the reports are untrue, but the fact of the matter is that no reporter can categorically state that they are. Cuba, Guatemala, and a number of other CIA episodes remind him that nothing can be certain in the jungle of suspicion created by the agency. The dilemma should caution the Administration, busy with its plan for unconventional and subversive war.

Cuba Fiasco

The search for a culprit for the Cuba fiasco continues both in and out of Congress. Apart from the hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations sub-committee for Latin America, as usual those involved have counter-attacked with discreet but newspaper reports. President Kennedy’s efforts to maintain the unity of his Administration by assuming full responsibility have to that extent failed; the victim of Cuba might well be the bright promise of this Administration.

The Pentagon counter-attacked in the Baltimore Sun today when an unnamed military gentleman claimed that Cuba was military business. The trouble, as he saw it, was that the dominant influence upon Washington thinking, and quite probably American thinking for several years, had been that of intellectuals basically opposed in principle and practice to the concept of military force.

There is no end in sight to this kind if thing, but Mr. Walter Lippmann devoted his column today to a proposal that does not appear to have occurred to many of those involved. Mr. Lippmann proposed that after a disaster of this kind the mistake can be purged and confidence restored only by resignation.

Confidence shaken

Unlike the British system, Mr. Lippman continued, the chief executive does not and cannot resign, but if there is to be accountability the President must hold responsible those whose constitutional or statutory duty it is to advise him. It is a painful business but the confidence of the American people and their friends throughout the world is at stake.

If Mr. Lippmann’s advice has not been taken the upper layer of the Administration has been given a discreet shake, and men such as Mr. Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General and the President’s brother, Mr. Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State, and Mr. Ted Sorensen, the President’s chief assistant, are among those who appear to have come out on top. Mr. Allen Dulles, Mr. Richard Bissell, Jnr., his deputy, General Lymnitzer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and some of President Kennedy’s advisers from Harvard have been, it would appear, submerged.

From our own correspondent (Washington, 11 May), "Britain To Be Asked To Join In Anti-Guerrilla Measures," The Times, 12 May 1961, p.16:

"Mr. Walter Lippmann disclosed in his column today that CIA agents have been interfering in the internal affairs of France.

Mr. Lippmann says the reason why the French Government has not really exculpated the CIA of encouraging the Algerian rebel generals is that it was already so angry with the agency for meddling in French internal politics. The French grievance, justified or not, has to do with recent legislation for the French nuclear weapons, and the alleged effort of the CIA to interfere with that legislation.

Earlier in this correspondence it was presumed that reports of CIA support for the generals revolt were untrue, but it was added that no reporter here could categorically state that they were. Mr. Lippmann's report diminishes the presumption of non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign and allied country. Certainly France is not the only member of NATO in which the CIA has busied itself. In west Germany, for instance, there was widespread dismay some years ago when a neo-Nazi group was discovered secretly drilling with a variety of weapons. There was fear of a Nazi revival and of the ability of the Federal Government to protect its infant democratic institutions. The fear proved groundless; investigation showed that the young thugs were the proteges of the CIA."