Failed Intelligence, Underhanded Motives, Aggressive Tendencies

DGSE to Britain: a very public “I TOLD you so”

Very helpful indeed, and also very reminiscent of the sickness most resembling the French “functionary” psyche.

«PARIS, Aug 8 (AFP) - A confidential report by France's intelligence service that was finalised days before the 7 July London bombings pointed to the threat of an Al-Qaeda attack on Britain, the French daily Le Figaro said Monday.»

Again, more nya-nya leaking and undermining of the value of intelligence. Maybe the worker-bees dream of this sort of interaction with the world outside their borders:

«I approached him and in my best French and told him the situation. He studied my documents and told me that I would have to resubmit the request again in writing. He assured me that if these letters had been received that the address would have been changed. Of course, I had sent them "return receipt requested," and I knew they had been received.

I immediately pulled out of my case a small box of Belgium chocolates that I had purchased. I asked if he would like one. I then slid the entire box under the window and insisted that he keep all of them. Eh voila! Suddenly, he found that he could make the changes right then and there on his system. As well, he wanted to know why I didn't have a prélevement ("direct draft") already established for the payment of my taxes. He filled out his part of the form for me, and then showed me where to sign.»

A world where imaginary authority collides with expectations of fealty, or something similarly small-minded, insular, and unimaginative.

As for their use in protecting people, and serving the public good, a glaring example of backing up allies and supporting larger strategic goals for the stability and safety of a larger world are quite obvious:

«Charles De Gaulle undertook covert operations in Quebec using nationalist and separatist movements in Quebec, under the rubric of "Assistance et Cooperation Technique" or "Operation Ascot." Jacques Foccart dispatched SDECE agents to Quebec to develop and foment the growth of separatist movements. »

Having committed untold harm and grief, even to allies and friends, the question is and has always been: can you trust them at all? I think it’s quite obvious why the U.S., or anyone else for that matter, doesn’t take French governance seriously.

« They say that France's intelligence services used an Italian-born middle-man to circulate a mixture of genuine and bogus documents to "trap" the two leading proponents of war with Saddam into making unsupportable claims.

They have passed to The Sunday Telegraph a photograph which they claim shows the Italian go-between, sometimes known as "Giacomo" - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - meeting a senior French intelligence officer based in Brussels. "The French hoped that the bulk of the documents would be exposed as false, since many of them obviously were," an Italian official said.

"Their aim was to make the allies look ridiculous in order to undermine their case for war."»

It looks like yet another honorific legacy of DeGaulle's Monsieur Afrique. Don’t worry, it’s only the opaque regime they don’t like, not the people, and certainly not the 20% of the population that it’s composed of…