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Europe
French Perfidy Fails Again
2004-10-04
Brief followup to a story we've been following, source: Debka.
A failed scheme by Chirac to free two French hostages in Iraqi hands while using them to upset US-Syrian military cooperation to seal border against infiltrators — key to coming Fallujah offensive. Scheme was foiled by last Thursday's US air strike against Iraqi Baath convoy that turned out to be secreting the two French journalists to Syria...
A lovely story full of spy novel intrigue and the French screwing up again--a happy ending.
Posted by:Anonymoose

#11  Not much... this is offline and Hushmail territory.
Posted by: True German Ally   2004-10-04 3:35:48 PM  

#10  TGA, any good online sources (not French media but blogs etc) for french intelligence doings?
Posted by: lex   2004-10-04 2:18:34 PM  

#9  Deep laid plots indeed...
Nothing is murkier than French intelligence operations.
Posted by: True German Ally   2004-10-04 2:16:57 PM  

#8  This is more than meddling; it's pretty clear that Chirac is on the other side. Probably hoping for a ba'athist restoration and a humiliating US withdrawal. In other words, a Kerry victory
Posted by: lex   2004-10-04 2:15:09 PM  

#7  Re-post of a posting by TGA yesterday:
#3 Oh THAT Philip Brett. A rather shady figure of French intelligence. He created the Office français pour le développement de l'industrie et la culture (Ofdic) which served as a pompous cover for introducing medium sized French companies in Iraq and all sorts of intelligence operations there. He seemed to have got along very well with Saddam's intelligence. He is a key figure in French-Iraqi relations, even during the embargo.

Something's VERY fishy here
Posted by: True German Ally 2004-10-03 3:40:59 PM
Posted by: lex   2004-10-04 2:13:25 PM  

#6  I just read articles in Le Monde and Liberation re the trip by Julia and his entourage. He's a French MP of the UMP, which I believe is Chirac's party. According to the papers, he went on his own, thinking his contacts with syrian intel would be more productive than the official operation cell at the French embassy in Amman.

Long story short, apparently his private diplomacy has made everything a hash, and the hostage holders and French officialdom are perturbed. Nothing about the convoy.
Posted by: Chicago Mike   2004-10-04 1:58:03 PM  

#5   US-Syrian military cooperation?

Parallel units patrolling along the Syria-Iraq border, perhaps.
Posted by: trailing wife   2004-10-04 10:13:25 AM  

#4  WTF? US-Syrian military cooperation?
Posted by: Spot   2004-10-04 9:33:42 AM  

#3  I would love to believe it but I am on a salt restriced diet.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-10-04 2:33:16 AM  

#2  It's Debka; salt to taste.
Posted by: Pappy   2004-10-04 2:13:43 AM  

#1  Just finished reading it. When are we going to have an operation on Chirac?
Posted by: 3dc   2004-10-04 12:21:32 AM  

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