Sauce for la goose

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 3:09 PM Share

Nicolas Sarkozy, president de la France, condemned the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai. He said that his country cannot accept such "executions."

Funny, I remember reading in Savage War of Peace how French agents whacked European arms dealers it believed were supplying the Algerian rebels.

NIGEL TREBLIN/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:EUROPE, FRANCE, ISRAEL/PALESTINE

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JPWREL

3:41 PM ET

February 24, 2010

And the French would do so

And the French would do so again if they thought it an imperative to their national security.

STARBUCK

3:57 PM ET

February 24, 2010

Wait a second...

This is the same France that sank the Rainbow Warrior, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior

ERIC_STRATTONIII

4:08 PM ET

February 24, 2010

The exact same

I could have sworn an "Eco-terrorist" dies as a result of the limpet planted too. :)

OMBRAGEUX

4:55 PM ET

February 24, 2010

Really?

I don't your equating Israel's modus operandi with that of French Algeria is where you want to go with this... or do you?

CMEYERGO

6:09 PM ET

February 24, 2010

That is an absurd comment Mr. Ricks

The French didn't do that last week, that was decades ago before Sarkosy was even born.

I guess you heard it at a DC dinner party from one of your Likud neocon friends. The logic is that no one should condemn the open assassinations of unarmed civilians by Israel because we can always find some obscure historical blemish in their nation's history.

Please promise to avoid mindless comments in the future. BTW, will you condemn such murders too? Or do you fear for your life?

TYRTAIOS

9:23 PM ET

February 24, 2010

Oui, Israel!

Yes, Sarco says many things as many politician do, and it would seem pulitizer prize winning journalists will also. Using an example of what the French Fourth Republic did so long ago was amusing - le francais pur est aux Francais ce qu'israel est aux sionistes. : )

As for this assassination in Dubai, I find it interesting how "someone" used pre-2005 passports that don't contain bio-metrics, to forge valid names of at least 18 citizens from various countries, with expenses charged on American bank account credit cards - all to send one man to paradise; or was it to scare others that my follow in his footsteps by making him an example?

To me, at first glance it does sound more like what the French or we Americans would over engineer in doing, as opposed to Israel - economy in management one of their more admirable traits. : )

ERIC_STRATTONIII

2:04 AM ET

February 25, 2010

True Ty

True Ty, true but they also used their Commando Hubert (Combat Swimmers) to whack an eco-terroist and the Rainbow Warrior not all that long ago :)

TYRTAIOS

5:59 AM ET

February 25, 2010

Save the Whales

But of course ERIC: save a whale, harpoon a fat lady; don't hassle the humbacks, etc. Damn pesky Greenpeace (gutsy, ain't they?).

Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a WWII naval officer and helped set-up France's underwater combat de la marine (Commando Hubert). Leave it to the Frogs. Oui! The French becoming frogmen - is that not Darwin's evolution in action, with a little help from the Directorate-General for External Security?

And Caesar's spirit, raging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war - Marcus Antonius : o

ERIC_STRATTONIII

1:05 PM ET

February 25, 2010

lol!

Darn Darwin!! If only the French would sink more Greenpeace boats, the world might be a better place ;) .

AMY-BANGKOK

1:26 AM ET

February 25, 2010

i cant believe this hasnt been said yet, but...

when it comes to france and double-standards,

what is good for the goose may not be good for the gander?

MARIE

10:51 PM ET

March 6, 2010

Sarko

well Sarko, like G. Brown, were only talking officially, cuz, french and british identities had been "robbed", and it is punished by law. If our leaders had't said anything, that would have ment that anyone could rob one identity without further pursuit !