Algerian War of Independence
In 1958, to provide arms and money to both sides of the war of Independence in Algeria, the Arab Commercial Bank in Geneva was set up, with the help of Otto Skorzeny, by Francois Genoud. It was the banking contacts of Genoud that set in motion the ODESSA networks, which transferred millions of marks from Germany into Swiss banks, who were supposedly managing the hidden Swiss treasure of the Third Reich, most of which had been stolen from Jews.
Skorzeny became engaged in an ultra-right faction within the French Army, the French Secret Army Organization (OAS), in support of a conspiracy to block President Charles de Gaulle’s plans to grant independence to Algeria. The OAS was controlled from the outside partly by Allen Dulles, Hitler’s Economics Minister, Hjalmar Schacht and Genoud. 131
Genoud had been in contact with Dulles since 1943 and also through their joint support of the French Secret Army Organization (OAS) in Algeria. The OAS fomented the war of independence in Algeria, of 1954 to 1962, by simultaneously aiding the fascist and colonial supporters of French Algeria and the guerrilla fighters, represented by the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN). Instrumental in the conspiracy was François Mitterrand, a holdover of the fascist, Freemasonic organisation called the Cagoule. It was through the initiative of Mitterand, that head of the OAS, Jacques Soustelle, was nominated governor-general of Algeria.
The OAS teamed up with Skorzeny, who trained leading components of both the OAS and the FLN. Skorzeny was, at that time, also providing assistance to the right-wing fascist Jabotinsky networks of the Israeli Mossad through the services of James Jesus Angleton’s CIA operations in Spain. In 1954, the FLN guerrillas launched a series of attacks against the French military and issued a proclamation calling on all Muslims of Algeria to join the fight for “the restoration of the Algerian State, sovereign, democratic, and social, within the framework of the principle of Islam.” 132
The response was given, not by the Minister of Defence, but by the Minister of the Interior, Francois Mitterrand, who replied: “The only possible negotiation is war.” Pierre Beaudry describes the atrocities which ensued:
In August 1955, the FLN was deployed to conduct the massacre of Philippeville, murdering 123 people, including women and children. Algeria’s Governor-General Soustelle ordered massive retaliation attacks, which, according to some estimates, killed 1,273 guerrilla fighters (the FLN reported 12,000 deaths). The truth is probably half-way, about 6,000 victims. The cycle of vengeance was on. Thousands of Muslims were tortured and killed in an orgy of bloodletting organized by the French Armed Forces and police. The idea was to unleash an unstoppable process of escalation of violence and retaliation.133
Footnotes:
131 Beaudry, Pierre. “The Algeria Paradox: Will Bush or Kerry Learn a Lesson from Charles de Gaulle?” Executive Intelligence Review, June 18, 2004.
132 Ibid.
133 Ibid.
