Word: mitterrand
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...until Le Monde printed a story in mid-August verifying the broad | outlines of the scandal that the political implications for the French government became grave. The country's most respected newspaper, Le Monde was also an early and fervent supporter of Socialist President Francois Mitterrand. Suddenly the Elysee Palace could no longer dismiss the charges as mere gossip or yellow journalism...
...operation against the Rainbow Warrior. It was inconceivable, Le Monde claimed, that Vice Admiral Lacoste, the foreign espionage chief, would have acted without orders. Among those who might have authorized the attack or allowed it to happen, the paper said, were Lacoste's superiors: General Jean-Michel Saulnier, Mitterrand's personal chief of staff when the surveillance scheme was conceived; General Jeannou Lacaze, then overall armed forces Chief of Staff; and Hernu. By most accounts, Mitterrand was not informed of the spying mission until a week after the Rainbow Warrior had been sunk. By that time the New Zealand police...
Almost until the moment the scandal exploded last week, Mitterrand's government clung to the findings of the Tricot report. But doubts were already growing within the Cabinet and the Socialist Party. Le Monde, among others, charged that the true saboteurs of the Rainbow Warrior were neither the jailed pair of French agents nor the three-man crew of the spy yacht Ouvea, which allegedly had been sent from the French territory of New Caledonia to back up the operation. The real hitmen, claimed Le Monde, were two unidentified frogmen, probably from France's underwater demolition training base in Corsica...
...Mitterrand did just that. In dismissing Hernu and ordering a shake-up within the secret services, the President aroused the displeasure of France's top military brass, who feel that their colleagues were sacrificed for political expediency. Yet Mitterrand had little choice, not only for his own government's future but for France's battered image. In New Zealand, Prime Minister David Lange responded sharply to Hernu's resignation. Said he: "France has handled the Rainbow Warrior affair in the most destructive way possible...
...leaders of France's conservative opposition parties, Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac, former Premier Raymond Barre and former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, carefully refrained from attacking Mitterrand, who has come to symbolize France's commitment to nuclear independence. But their underlings were scathing. Said National Assembly Deputy Philippe Mestre: "Either the President was aware--in which case he has lied and this is Watergate--or he was not aware, in which case he's a fool." For Mitterrand it was a no-win situation. Having tasted political blood, the opposition appeared intent on keeping up the pressure to force...