June 28, 2004
In writing about Iraq, I have on occasion referred to France's war in Algeria. The Pentagon also sees the parallel, for its interest in the film, "The Battle of Algiers," helped bring that classic back to the screens.
One theme of the Pontecorvo film is torture. The French military captures Algerian resistance (terrorist?) leaders and seeks to elicit from them information about other leaders who might be planning attacks. Col. Mathieu, the main character in the film, is a brilliantly logical torturer, someone who in civilian life might be teaching Cartesian geometrics at the Sorbonne.
In one gripping scene, Mathieu is asked by a reporter about allegations of torture. He replies: "The (rebels) want to throw us out of Algeria. We want to stay. We are soldiers. Our duty is to win. If you think we should stay in Algeria, you must accept the consequences."
The end justifies the means.
Given the similarities, it's not hard to see why the Bush administration has an ugly torture controversy on its hands not just in Iraq, but Afghanistan and at Guantánamo as well. Were it not for the Abu Ghraib photos, we still wouldn't know about these abuses.
(snip)
Goldsborough can be reached via e-mail at jim.goldsborough@uniontrib.com.
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