Aussaresses, head of military intelligence in Algiers in 1957, admitted in an interview with French daily Le Monde in 2000 that he had “no remorse and no regrets” for the acts of torture he had carried out.
"Once you have seen with your own eyes as I did, civilians, men, women, and children quartered, disembowelled and nailed to doors [by the rebels], you are changed for life,” he said. “What feelings can anyone have towards those who perpetrated such barbaric acts and their accomplices?"
In 2001 Aussaresses published his memoir “The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counterterrorism in Algeria 1955-1957”, in which he wrote that the French government had “ignored, if not openly recommended” the use of torture.
The book, and subsequent unrepentant press interviews, led to then-French President Jacques Chirac stripping Aussaresses of his Légion d’Honneur, as well as his rank as general and his right to wear the French uniform.
In April 2003 he was condemned for defending the use of torture and war crimes and subsequently fined 7,500 euros. Aussaresses remained defiant and stated that his conviction was an act of state hypocrisy.
Val says - What this disgraced General did not see was he was as bad if not worse than the people he was fighting. How can you defend democracy if you practice torture, and he never did acknowledge or admit he was wrong. No wisdom with age for this man.
Comments to taglines82@gmail.com
