Sacre blue! Chirac, defender of Saddam Hussein who opposed the overthrow of a genocidal dictator, did some overthrowing of his own? Where are the editorials in the NYT or Le Monde or International Herald Tribune? Captain Ed notes:

A Paris Criminal Tribunal ruling has pinned the government of Jacques Chirac with responsibility for a 1995 coup in Comoros, giving suspended sentences to over two dozen French mercenaries who seized power on Chirac's secret orders. The judge refused to sentence the defendants to jail time, saying that the French government had obviously allowed the men to act as their agents in their attempt at an overthrow:

COVERT attempts by President Chirac to exert influence over Africa were exposed by a French court yesterday, when it denounced his secret services for conniving with a band of mercenaries in a coup in the tiny Comoros Islands.

In a damning ruling, the Paris Criminal Tribunal said that the French authorities had given at least tacit approval to the 1995 coup led by Bob Denard, the best—known French soldier of fortune. ...

The court refused a prosecution demand to jail the plotters and instead handed out suspended sentences after hearing them claim that they were acting with the backing of M Chirac's Government.

Ed Lasky   6 21 06