French Ex-Algeria Army Chief Sorry About Torture
November 25, 2000 - 0:0
PARIS The general who led French "Paras" in the notorious 1957 battle of Algiers, said in an interview that France should now officially admit and condemn its use of torture during the ferocious fighting.
"Morally, torture is something pretty dismal. I think (to recognize and condemn) what happened would be positive," retired General Jacques Massu told the newspaper Le Monde.
Massu, now aged 92, was commander of the Algiers city area at the height of a bloody bombing campaign by Muslim nationalists against European settlers during Algeria's 1954-1962 War of Independence from France.
He was ordered to crack rebel bombing cells by any means and the systematic use of torture by the paratroopers under his command sparked a controversy which split France.
One of his former aides, retired General Paul Aussaresses, told Le Monde on Wednesday that he had personally killed 24 suspected guerrilla chiefs.
He added that about 3,000 other suspects were killed and their bodies "made to disappear".
Massu won the infamous battle, but president Charles de Gaulle decided to pull France out of Algeria, which was granted its independence in July 1962.
Le Monde and the communist daily L'Humanite, both of whom opposed Paris's policy during the Algerian War, have recently started campaigning for an official act of repentance for France's actions in colonial wars.
Massu said blame should not be placed on the French Army, where he served for more than 40 years, stressing that the order to break up rebel cells at any cost came from politicians.
Massu said the campaign to seek repentance was one-sided since "one should not forget what the FLN (Algerian Nationalists) did to their own compatriots and how they acted "Like Savages" Massu has admitted in several books that he ordered the use of torture as the only way to get information rapidly during the terror campaign, but it is only in recent interviews that he has started to express doubts.
Massu's one-time intelligence chief, General Aussaresses, 82, said he disliked the methods used but would act the same way if he had to undertake the same responsibilities again.
"What could we have done? Hand those men over to justice? That was out of the question, we had other things to do than study the various situations of certain individuals within a legal framework," Aussaresses told Le Monde.
(Reuter)
"Morally, torture is something pretty dismal. I think (to recognize and condemn) what happened would be positive," retired General Jacques Massu told the newspaper Le Monde.
Massu, now aged 92, was commander of the Algiers city area at the height of a bloody bombing campaign by Muslim nationalists against European settlers during Algeria's 1954-1962 War of Independence from France.
He was ordered to crack rebel bombing cells by any means and the systematic use of torture by the paratroopers under his command sparked a controversy which split France.
One of his former aides, retired General Paul Aussaresses, told Le Monde on Wednesday that he had personally killed 24 suspected guerrilla chiefs.
He added that about 3,000 other suspects were killed and their bodies "made to disappear".
Massu won the infamous battle, but president Charles de Gaulle decided to pull France out of Algeria, which was granted its independence in July 1962.
Le Monde and the communist daily L'Humanite, both of whom opposed Paris's policy during the Algerian War, have recently started campaigning for an official act of repentance for France's actions in colonial wars.
Massu said blame should not be placed on the French Army, where he served for more than 40 years, stressing that the order to break up rebel cells at any cost came from politicians.
Massu said the campaign to seek repentance was one-sided since "one should not forget what the FLN (Algerian Nationalists) did to their own compatriots and how they acted "Like Savages" Massu has admitted in several books that he ordered the use of torture as the only way to get information rapidly during the terror campaign, but it is only in recent interviews that he has started to express doubts.
Massu's one-time intelligence chief, General Aussaresses, 82, said he disliked the methods used but would act the same way if he had to undertake the same responsibilities again.
"What could we have done? Hand those men over to justice? That was out of the question, we had other things to do than study the various situations of certain individuals within a legal framework," Aussaresses told Le Monde.
(Reuter)