Page 154 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

THE WINTER OF ISLAM AND THE SPRING TO COME
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Nothing changed for the Muslim peo-
ple of Algeria after the country se-
cured independence in 1962. The
new administration, close to France,
continued with the killings.

In 1995, a series of bombs went off in Paris. Islamic extremists were
blamed and the West agreed. Joseph told us the men who planned
the bombs were Generals Tewfik and Smain, commanders in the
Algerian secret police, and the operation was controlled from the
Algerian embassy in Paris. After the bombings, the then French
Interior Minister, Jean-Louis Debre, was asked at an off-the-record
lunch whether it was possible the Algerian secret police had been be-
hind the bombings. He said: "The Algerian security military would
like us to go up the wrong trail so that we can eliminate people who
annoy them." 30
The third example in the article also took place in a mysterious
fashion:
In 1997, three huge massacres took place south of Algiers. All three
happened in a heavily guarded zone, surrounded by army barracks. It
takes a long time to slit the throats of 200 people. No one has been
brought before the Algerian courts for any of the big massacres. The
killers, the regime admits, "left undisturbed." 31
An incident similar to those described by John Sweeney was also