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Steve Thomas

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  1. 'This is insane': Experts hammer Kevin McCarthy for letting George Santos attend classified China briefing
     By David Badash, February 8, 2023
    https://www.rawstory.com/this-is-insane-experts-hammer-kevin-mccarthy-for-letting-george-santos-attend-classified-china-briefing/


    "Just last month Speaker McCarthy banned two top House Democrats, Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, from returning to the Intelligence Committee. While he claimed it was for national security reasons, some believe it was retribution for their roles in prosecuting Donald Trump’s impeachments.
    “I cannot put partisan loyalty ahead of national security, and I cannot simply recognize years of service as the sole criteria for membership on this essential committee. Integrity matters more,” McCarthy wrote in a letter.
    Retired U.S. Naval War College professor Tom Nichols, an academic specialist on international affairs including Russia, nuclear weapons, and national security affairs, tweeted: “This is insane.”"

    Steve Thomas

  2. 12 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

    Leslie,

    Thank you.

    Yes, you provided this composite on page 8 in the Thread, "Coup in Dallas" here:

    https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/27407-coup-in-dallas/page/8/

    In your post, you included a pdf file, that if a person clicks on it, can be downloaded.

    I did, and yes, there is no resemlance.

     

    Leslie,

    Mertz, from your composite:

    Mertz.jpg.eaf13a2d47fd8fb2385034c0b0d6c3bd.jpg

     

    Souetre composite

    #1 On the base of Culumb-Bechar, 1957

    Lieutenant Tromoni (on left) Souetre (on right)

    #2 Sergeant Lemineur (on left) and Souetre (on right) Algeria circa 1960

    http://www.commando-air.com/page10.php?view=preview&category=1&q&image=168&ImageGalleryPage=4

    #3 Soetre in Sante Prison (I think. I have not been avle to verify. The other person is unknown)

     

    539766797_Souetrecomposite.thumb.jpg.1c5e0dd85f4483422c02741b425956cb.jpg

    Steve Thomas

  3. 3 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

     

    Steve, I've shared the composite on Ed Forum in the past so of course I'm willing.  

    However, the file exceeds the limits of EF, so I'm trying to remember how to drag the composite (or "choose file") into this thread so that you can consider the images. 

    For now, the caption of photos of Jean Rene Souetre reads, 

    This poor quality photograph is a unique piece.

    It is the agent of the DST Michel Mertz, from two different angles, infiltrator of the OAS environment protect de Gaulle.  

    He was in Dallas November 22 where he pretended to be Souetre.

    His presence in Texas is proof that the French services knew that Kennedy was going to be assassinated that day.

     

     

    Leslie,

    Thank you.

    Yes, you provided this composite on page 8 in the Thread, "Coup in Dallas" here:

    https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/27407-coup-in-dallas/page/8/

    In your post, you included a pdf file, that if a person clicks on it, can be downloaded.

    I did, and yes, there is no resemlance.

    You won't need to upload it again, at least for my benefit anyway.

    I would disagree with the author of the piece that the French authorities knew that JFK would be assassinated that day.

     By 1963, Mertz had been expelled from France and was living in Montreal running drugs, probably as part of Lucien Rivard's network.

    Steve Thomas

     

     

  4. Souetre's father

    http://gw.geneanet.org/jls29?lang=fr&pz=gabin&nz=souetre&ocz=0&p=rene+jean&n=souetre&oc=1

     

    Rene Jean Souetre:

    Born on August 3, 1893 at 33 rue dirot - Brest,29200, Finistere, Bretagne, FRANCE

    January 18, 1930 Marriage (avec Jeanne Helytte SAUGNAC) - Bordeaux,33000,Gironde,Aquitaine,FRANCE

    July 2, 1936 Marriage annuled (avec Berthe Marie Agnes VANDAL de COLLIGNY) - Rome,ITALIE

    (He had divorced her on December 28, 1928)

    Honors: La Legion d'honneur Cote LH/2530/60

    February 16, 1944 Died Ayguemortes les Graves, 33 Gironde, FRANCE (He would have died when Jean-Rene was 13).

    Sous officier de la Marine Nationnale (Non-commissioned officer)

     

    http://gw.geneanet.org/jls29?lang=fr&m=N&v=SOUETRE

    Jean-Rene Marie Souetre

    First marriage to Marcelle Christiane Berrotte in a civil ceremony on August 21, 1954, and in a Catholic ceremony in St. Nicolas at Bordeaux on August 23, 1954. They had a child named Myriam.

    Second marriage to Josette Suzanne Marcailhou d'Aymeric on January 26, 1962. They had a child named Yannick.

    Third marriage to Françoise Marie Agnes Hourtic on August 3, 1972.

    They had a child named Yann Fabrice.

     

    At 11 years old, he embraced the military career, enrolling in a military prep school (enfant de troupe) first at Billom, then at Autun.

     

    As I understand it, the system of military prep schools was established by the ordinance of King Louis XV in 1766 for the sons of former officers. http://www.aet-association.org/aet/ecoles/ecoles_disparues_france/9/file.2005-02-06.3750752970.pdf

     

    Jean-Rene was in a military boarding school and then in the Air Force from the time he was 11 years old.

     

    I was never able to really nail down the following. I don’t know if there really is such a person, or if it was somebody trying to contact Jean-Rene through a ruse.

     

    Post by a guest in the Forum: Le Forum des Commandos de L'Air Lun 14 Jul 2008 14:58

    http://commando-air-forum.forum2discussion.com/t2562-presentation

    Bonjour,

    Grâce à votre site, j'ai pu voir hier soir pour la première fois des photos de mon père Jean René Souêtre. Cela m'a beaucoup émue. Je n'avais vu qu'une minuscule photo de lui, parue dans un journal.

    Ma mère l'a connu à Châlons sur Marne. A l'époque de ma naissance en 1954, on avait le culte du secret en ce qui concerne les enfants naturels, et ma mère n'a accepté de me révéler son identité que quand j'ai eu 19 ans. J'ai décidé à l'époque d'enfouir tout cela le plus profond possible, ne connaissant rien de lui, et craignant un rejet, et de déranger. Seulement quand mon fils unique a eu 13 ans, son visage s'est transformé, et il s'est mis à lui ressembler...

    Maintenant que le temps a passé et qu'il n'est plus de ce monde, j'aimerais apprendre à le connaître par des personnes qui l'ont apprécié, et peut-être avoir quelques photos de lui si vous pouvez m'en procurer.

    J'aimerais aussi entrer en contact avec le sergent Lemineur, qui apparemment était l'un de ses amis proches.

    Merci d'avance à tous !

    Catherine

     

     

    Hello,

     

    Thank you for your site, I have could to see tonight for the first time some photos of my father Jean Rene Souetre. It is most touching to me. I have never seen that small photo of him, published in a journal.

     

    My mother was well known in Chalons on Marne.

    At the time of my birth in 1954, we had the cult of secrecy concerning the bith of natural children, (another translation is illegitimate children) and my mother had not accepted to reveal to me her identity that until I was 19 years old. I decided at the time to bury it all deep as possible, not knowing anything of him and fearing rejection and to disturb. Only when my only son was 13 years old, his appearance changed and he began to look like him...

     

    Catherine

     

    Now that time has passed and he his not more of this world, I would like to begin to know by those who appreciated him and perhaps to have some photos of him if you can provide them to me.

     

    I would like also to enter into contact with Sergeant Lemineur, who apparently was one of his close friends.

     

    Thanks in advance to you!

     

    Catherine.

     

    (Chalons was a city in the Marne Department of France. It was re-named Châlons-en-Champagne near Rheims. This is champagne country). - Wikipedia - http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramway_de_Châlons-sur-Marne

     

    (For a short while, the city was known as Chalons-sur-Marne but in 1998, reverted back to its original name of Chalons-en-Champagne. The city has since consolidated its position as regional capital.).

    http://www.chalons-en-champagne.net/index.php/english/

     

    (It was here that Atilla the Hun was defeated in 451 by the Romans and Visigoths).

    http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Chalons-sur-Marne

     

    In 1967 Bob Denard was sent by the SDECE to Luanda to muder Jean Rene Souetre

    http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/S%20Disk/Souetre%20Jean%20with%20aka's/Item%2015.pdf page16 see also page19 for the details.

     

    Jean-Rene and Josette were marriedi n February, 1962.

    On March 9, 1963, Josette was arrested traveling on a fake passport at the small border crossing between Spain and France known as Perthus. She was trying to get back into France to file for a divorce.

     

    Mme SOUÈTRE AFFIRME QU'ELLE EST VENUE EN FRANCE POUR DIVORCER

    LE MONDE | 13.03.1963 à 00h00 • Mis à jour le 13.03.1963 à 00h00

    http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1963/03/13/mme-souetre-affirme-qu-elle-est-venue-en-france-pour-divorcer_2217664_1819218.html?xtmc=souetre&xtcr=14

    " Je n'ai été chargée d'aucune mission pour le compte de l'O.A.S. ", a-t-elle ajouté.

    I am not on a mission for the OAS.” she said

    Steve Thomas

  5. Republicans expect 'balloons in the audience' for Joe Biden's State of the Union speech

    ny David Edwards February 07, 2023

    https://www.rawstory.com/state-of-the-union-balloons/

    One caller to San Antonio's WOAI morning show floated the idea of Republicans bringing balloons to the speech to protest Biden's handling of a surveillance aircraft from China that traversed the U.S. last week.

    "And also, there will be balloons in the audience so that should be quite entertaining."

    Host Chris Duel called the idea "fantastic."

    "If there's balloons in the audience, that's just going to be fantastic," he said.

    "If the Republicans all come with white balloons, blow them up, that would be great," co-host "Mr. T" agreed.

    Co-host Charity McCurdy predicted it would be "a true circus”.

    Steve Thomas

  6. Santos’ unusual $199.99 campaign expenses are putting scrutiny on his longtime treasurer

    By Fredreka Schouten, Kara Scannell and Gregory Krieg, CNN

    Updated 7:25 AM EST, Tue February 7, 2023

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/07/politics/george-santos-treasurer/index.html

     

    “In the fall of 2020, then-New York Rep. Lee Zeldin’s campaign submitted a report to federal regulators with a series of unusual expenses: 21 payments on a single day of exactly $199.99 each. The outlays – each just one penny below the dollar figure above which campaigns are required to keep receipts – all went to anonymous recipients.

    It’s a pattern that has emerged recently in the filings of another New York Republican politician: Embattled freshman Rep. George Santos.

    The Zeldin and Santos congressional campaigns had one more thing in common: They shared a treasurer, Nancy Marks”

     

    Nah. Nothing to see here. It’s just a coincidence.

    Steve Thomas

  7. George Santos is the superstar MAGA deserves

    by Amanda Marcotte, Salon

    February 06, 2023

    https://www.rawstory.com/george-santos-2659376500/

    “But there's an even darker reason that Carlson, Bannon, Taylor Greene, etc. have decided to rally round Santos: He's very useful as a weapon in their larger war on truth”.

    “There's a point to right-wingers constantly saying and "believing" things they know not to be true. It's about devaluing empirical reality. Fascists want "truth" to flow from what the right-wing authority figures say is "true," not from lived experience or verifiable facts. They are trying to construct a world where facts don't matter, and only power does.”

    “The first step is getting their tribal community to agree collectively to stop distinguishing between true and false and to only claim to believe what is convenient for their leaders or their cause.

    For that goal, Santos is useful.“

    Donald Trump: 'What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening'

    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-44959340

    Steve Thomas

  8. More than Skorzeny, I think a  more fruitful line of research would be to look at Souetre's relationship with Yves Guerin-Serac. It was Guerin-Serac who Souetre was with when they met with representatives of the CIA in Madrid in May of 1963.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Guérin-Sérac

    Yves Guérin-Sérac, born Yves Guillou (also known as Jean-Robert de Guernadec or Ralf; 2 December 1926 – 9 March 2022[1]) was a French anti-Communist Roman Catholic activist, former officer of the French army and veteran of the First Indochina War (1945–54), the Korean War (1950–53) and the Algerian War of Independence (1955–62). He was also a member of the elite troop of the 11ème Demi-Brigade Parachutiste de Choc, which worked with the SDECE (French intelligence agency), and a founding member of the Organisation armée secrète (OAS), a French terrorist group based in Spain which fought against Algerian independence in 1961-62.[2] It was alleged that he was an instigator of the so-called strategy of tension in Italy, and the main organizer of the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing.[3]

    Steve Thomas

  9. 25 minutes ago, Chris Barnard said:

    If it is to be believed/confirmed that Souètre was expelled/evacuated from the US/Texas in the days immediately after JFK was shot, what would you say the significance of that is, if any at all? 
     

    Thanks

    Chris

     

    Chris,

    I just don't know. I'm still learning.

    As far as believed vs. confirming, people believe many things.

    All I know is that he denied he was in Dallas all through the 1970's, 1980's and 1990"s up until his death in 2001.

    Steve Thomas

     

  10. There was a throwaway line in something Jean-Claude Perez told Fensterwald in 1982. He said that,

    post 1962, Souetre was part of an ultra-right, ultra-Catholic splinter group which included four men named Pichon, Lefevre, Bourget, and Grossouvre. Group called Integraliste
    http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/S%20Disk/Souetre%20Jean%20with%20aka%27s/Item%2011.pdf

    p. 4.

    François de Grossouvre (29 March 1918 – 7 April 1994) was a French politician charged in 1981 by newly elected president François Mitterrand with overseeing national security and other sensitive matters, in particular those concerning Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Gabon, the Persian Gulf countries, Pakistan and the two Korea. He was also in charge of the French branch of Gladio, Nato's stay-behind paramilitary secret armies during the Cold War. He was found dead with gunshot wounds at the Élysée Palace, the French President's official residence. The official verdict was suicide.

    François de Grossouvre

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_de_Grossouvre

    In 1943 he married Claudette Berger, daughter of an industrialist, Antoine Berger, and had six children. Grossouvre managed his family-in-law's companies Le Bon Sucre (1944–63) and A. Berger et Cie (1949–63), and then founded the Générale Sucrière sugar company. Along with Italian collaborators, businessman Gilbert Beaujolin and the American Alexandre Patty, he succeeded in obtaining an exclusive production licence for Coca-Cola and building the first factory of this type in France. Distribution was by the Société parisienne de boissons gazeuses and the Glacières de Paris, both subsidiaries of Pastis Pernod.

     

    (Remember Souetre was the manager? Of a sugar company in Martinique)

     

    According to Fensterwald in A Possible French Connection, Souetre “spent much time in Martinique where nominally, he was the Director of a sugar refinery whose head office was in France at Arcis sur Aube.”

    http://www.xiconhoca.org/PDF/DDeRoux/Apossiblefrenchconnection.pdf page 13 of the memo page 15 of the pdf.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcis-sur-Aube

     

    Besides many big farms producing all sorts of cereals, the sugar industry has a big plant there Cristal Union.”

     

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_de_Grossouvre

     

    During World War II, François de Grossouvre was posted as auxiliary physician in a regiment of Moroccan tirailleurs, and then joined the ski troops in the Vercors region. There he met Captain Bousquet, who created one of the first units of the Organisation de résistance de l'armée (ORA). He then returned to Lyon, where he received his doctorate in 1942. Afterward, he became doctor of the 11th regiment of Cuirassiers, headed by Colonel Lormeau.[4]

    Grossouvre then became a member of Joseph Darnand's Service d'ordre légionnaire (SOL), a Vichyst militia. He left it in 1943 to fight in the Vercors, joining the Maquis of the Chartreuse, near Grenoble (code-name "Clober"). After the Liberation, it was found that he had in fact infiltrated the SOL on behalf of ORA.

     

    Grossouvre was then recruited in 1950 by the French SDECE intelligence agency to replace Gilbert Union, official in Lyon and who had worked with the military agency BCRA, and became leader of Arc-en-Ciel, the regional branch of Gladio (Lyon region), NATO's stay-behind anti-communist organizations during the Cold War, under the code-name "Monsieur Leduc".[1][5] According to former SDECE agent Louis Mouchon, "His business, the A. Berger et Cie Sugar company, offered ample opportunities to stage fronts. He really had excellent contacts." According to The Economist's obituary, "He was recruited into the French espionage service and helped to organise Gladio, an American backed plan to create an armed resistance movement in Western Europe against a Russian invasion."

    Created by Colonel Fourcaud, in liaison with the US National Security Council, and then by Grossouvre, this network allegedly used the SAC Gaullist militia and the DPS, the National Front's currently dissolved militia.[6] The DPS was created along with Jacques Foccart, after the 1982 dissolution of the SAC, and allegedly provided mercenaries for activities in the former French colonies in Africa.[7]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_de_Grossouvre

    According to former SDECE agent Louis Mouchon, "His business, the A. Berger et Cie Sugar company, offered ample opportunities to stage fronts. He really had excellent contacts."

    I believe the part about the KGB infiltrating the SDECE. It was the same thing that Vosjoli and Goytsin were telling the Americains. This information was causing the Americans great consternation. I think Kennedy even wrote DeGaulle a handwritten letter about it. I think the French were trying to steal American nuclear technology and it was getting back to the Russians.

    After his escape from the prison camp in February, 1962, I wondered how, on foot, he was able to get from the southern coast of France to Spain in 1963. I think it was through the efforts of Pierre Guillaume – head of the naval section of the OAS, and naval advisor to one of the Putsch generals, but I can't remember if it was Gardy, or Jouhaud. Souetre would take Guillaume's place in the OAS when Guillaume was arrested in 1962.

    Les soldats perdus : des anciens de l'OAS racontent

    Author:
    Vincent Quivy

    “ Without economy and without resources since he had deserted, Soueter was trying to work to earn enough.

    In the autumn of 1963, however, he received 1 million old francs which enabled him to buy a business on the beach in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.”

    The OAS veterans who made it to the Balearic Islands were destitute.
    I'm not sure about the 1 milliion francs. Quivy doesn't say who gave it to him.

    http://jeanjviala.free.fr/1963 a 1965.htm


    Le colonel Broizat vivait à Madrid, Joseph Ortiz, le docteur Kovacs, Jacques Achard et Jean-René Souètre à Palma de Majorque, Athanase Georgeopoulos, Robert Tabarot, Michel de la Bigne et Camille Vignau dans la région d'Alicante ... "En situation irrégulière, ils ne pouvaient obtenir un emploi et vivaient dans le dénuement". Anne Dulphy L'algérie française et l'Espagne franquiste in l'Algérianiste, numéro 121 mars 2008.

    “In an irregular situation, the were not able to obtain employment and lived in destitution”.

    Palma de Mallorca is the major city and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of the island on the Bay of Palma. As of the 2009 census, the population of the city of Palma proper was 401,270, and the population of the entire urban area was 517,285, ranking as the twelfth largest urban area of Spain - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palma,_Majorca

    He would  return to Palma de Majorque in 1971 after his sojourn in Africa with the Tschombe affair.

    Steve Thomas


     

  11. 1 hour ago, Chris Barnard said:

    To add some off the cuff thoughts to that, it doesn’t seem Souetre is lacking sophistry or intelligence.

    What is Souetre’s fiscal history? Do his finances get significantly better after the assassination in the following years?

    It’s always going to be preferable to use foreign contract assassins. As you have a million ways to spin it. Foreign assassins also have no emotional connection to US presidents, US patriotism or anything else. Its just a job. 
     

    However, contradicting the last paragraph, in a more abstract sense, the OAS definitely needed allies, its quite isolating being hunted by your own government and living a life of exile. Did a French OAS man bitter at the independence of Algeria (a former French colony), have more in common with the right wing cabal that are pro-neo-colonialism and against a US president who thinks all nations have the right to self govern and self-determination? There is a battle of ideologies there.

    My personal feeling is; the CIA probably provided these guys with wet work, or had a cooperation in the lucrative drug trade, or used them for intelligence. Lets not forget that De Gaulle thought the CIA were behind a plot on him. They were a logical choice and they wanted the money. 
     

    What did JFK say as a senator in 1957 about Algerian independence? What did he say in the middle of 1962 on the subject? 


     

     

    Chris,

    The study of French politics in general, and the OAS in particular is... confusing. They seemed to change their governments so frequently it's hard to keep up.

    That the nature of the OAS was rightist in true, to a certain extent; but I've found that the OAS consisted of many things. You had the proto-fascists, yes, but it also had French loyalists,, disaffected SDECE and SAC agents, double agents, royalists, former members of the French Foreign Legion, outright criminals...the list goes on.

    I once read that the hardest job in the world was a drill instructor in the French Foreign Legion. You had a polyglot of languages mixed up with misfits, people who were on the lamb who had changed their name, men to were given the choice of joining the Foreign Legion or going to jail. Discipline consisted of taking you out behind the barracks and letting four of the biggest, baddest Legionnaires beat the tar out of you. So, it's complex. More than anything else, I would say that the OAS were anti-DeGaulle.

    I think there are two ingredients that help understand Souetre's character.: One was the Integraliste movement; and the other was Article 16 of the French Constitution.

    1) Integralism

    There was a throwaway line in something Jean-Claude Perez told Fensterwald in 1982. He said that,

    post 1962, Souetre was part of an ultra-right, ultra-Catholic splinter group which included four men named Pichon, Lefevre, Bourget, and Grossouvre. Group called Integraliste
    http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/S%20Disk/Souetre%20Jean%20with%20aka%27s/Item%2011.pdf

    p. 4.

    (Albert Lefevre, by the way, was the one man I could find that both stood trial with Souetre in December, 1961 and who escaped with him from the Camp at St. Maurice L'Ardoise in February, 1962.)

    From Wikipedia:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integralism

    Integralism is an ideology according to which a nation is an organic unity. Integralism defends social differentiation and hierarchy with co-operation between social classes, transcending conflict between social and economic groups. It advocates trade unionism (or a guild system), corporatism, and organic political representation instead of ideological forms of representation. Integralism claims that the best political institutions for given nations will differ depending on the history, culture and climate of the nation's habitat. Often associated with blood and soil conservatism, it posits the nation or the state or the nation state as an end and a moral good, rather than a means.[1]

    The term integralism was coined by the French journalist Charles Maurras, whose conception of nationalism was illiberal and anti-internationalist, elevating the interest of the state above that of the individual and above humanity in general.[1]

    Although it is marked by its being exclusionary and particularistic, and there has been consideration of its historic role as a sort of proto-fascism (in a European context)[1] or para-fascism (in a South American context),[2] this link remains controversial, with some social scientists positing that it combines elements of both the political left and right.[3]


    Catholic Integralism does not support the creation of an autonomous "Catholic" state church, or Erastianism (Gallicanism in French context). Rather it supports subordinating the state to the worldwide Catholicism under the leadership of the Pope. Thus it rejects separation of the Catholic Church from the state and favours Catholicism as the proclaimed religion of the state.[5]

    Catholic Integralism appeals to the teaching on the subordination of temporal to spiritual power of medieval popes such as Pope Gregory VII and Pope Boniface VIII. But Catholic Integralism in the strict sense came about as a reaction against the political and cultural changes which followed the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.[6

    For “trade unionism” See Fensterwald's “Possible French Connection”

    http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/S%20Disk/Souetre%20et%20al,%20Published/Item%2002.pdf


    “In the period, 1964-1966. Souetre headed the Societe Expinmaq in Madrid; it was a “soueti de traveaux publics,” furnishing works and cover for OAS veterans and exiles, such as Varga, Marton and Sari.”19 (essentially a trade union and you can see why Souetre was beloved by former OAS veterans. He got them jobs). When men deserted from the French Army as Souetre did and joined the OAS, they were destitute. They were wanted men who had no money for food or shelter and many turned to extra-legal means to get it. Popular methods were robbery, extortion, bank robbery and running drugs. Many were dependent on the largesse of rich donors.

    2) DeGauule's invocation of Article 16 of the French Constitution.

    When DeGaulle swept into power in 1958 and overthrew the Fourth Republic, France also got a new constitution. Under certain conditions, Article 16 allowed the President to invoke a national emergency and allocating all powers including judicial to the President. Due process was suspended. After the General's Putsch in April of 1961, DeGaulle invoked Article 16. When Souetre was tried in December of 1961, he was given a three-year suspended sentence, but was immediately placed in Administrative detention for an indefinite period, and confined to a prison camp in southern France. I've seen pictures of the camp. It was bleak to say the least. He led an 18-man prison break out of the camp in February, 1962. 10 men were immdediately re-captured, but 8 managed to escape. Souetre fled to Spain. I believe that this extra-judicial move left him embittered. You can see it reflected in pictures of him pre-1962 and post-1962. In earlier pictures, he is smiling and happy. After his imprisonment, he is dour and morose.

    Steve Thomas


     

  12. 19 hours ago, David Butler said:

    @Steve Thomas

    I

    I made a thread about someone known to him on here a while back after finding a photo of the Frenchy Tramp had been placed on the page from him on a French website

    https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/26975-the-%E2%80%9Cfrenchy%E2%80%9D-tramp/

    A document on the MFF says that this person was arrested with Souetre as one of nine members of Algerie Francaise.

    1. A civilian identified first as ‘Belgadia’ and later as ‘Henry Sloboda’

    David

    David,

    The OAS detainees were spread out among a number of prsons and camps in France and Algeria.

    Some of the more notable ones in France were Fresnes, Thol, Sante and St, Maurice.

    It looks like the man you were looking for was sent to Fresnes.

    image.png.ed7d20b37bd5c2f3f37daa4ea670de6f.png

    If you

    If you'd like to see a couple of pictures of what Fresnes looked like you can go here:

    http://deltas-collines.org/galerie/FRESNES

    Steve Thomas

  13. 1 hour ago, David Butler said:

    Thanks @Steve Thomas

    I was referring to the quote that 

    Before President Leyria opened the audience, eight men are in the box; three military in the leopard garb of parachutists; Captain René Souètre, Sergeants François Lemieur and Pierre Luca and five civilians; Charles Charnay, René Guedi, Albert Lefèvre, Dominique Squyilace, and Yvon Toffolo.

    The case of eight other defendants, in fact, are separate.

    Which makes it sound as though there are other cases that are separate for another eight

    Which I think should include the one I am interested in as the Frenchy Tramp Henri Slebodia or various other spellings...

     

     

    David,

    I think you may be right. It looks like they were trying them in groups.

    You might be interested in this article from Le Monde of December 18, 1961:

    Francois Lemineur and Pierre Luca - Le Monde December 18, 1961

    http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1961/12/18/les-membres-du-premier-maquis-algerie-francaise-comparaitront-lundi-devant-le-tribunal-militaire_2279543_1819218.html?xtmc=souetre_lemineur&xtcr=3

     

    Aux côtés du capitaine Souètre doivent comparaître les sergents déserteurs François Lemineur et Pierre Luca, ainsi que des civils : Charles Charnay, René Guedj, Albert Lefèvre, Dominique Squillace et Yvon Toffolo.

    Les autres accusés, en fuite, doivent être jugés par contumace : le sergent-chef Pierre Esquer, André de Brousse de Montpeyroux, Jean-Loup Blanchy, Aimé Blanc, Alain Loncle de Forville, Hyeck Slebioda, Yvon Agnor, Jean Clavel, Alain Di Crescenzo, Josué Giner, Paul Mancilla, René Monjo, Joseph Rizza et Antoine Terol.

    Steve Thomas

     

  14. 1 hour ago, David Butler said:

    @Steve Thomas

     

    A document on the MFF says that this person was arrested with Souetre as one of nine members of Algerie Francaise.

    1. A civilian identified first as ‘Belgadia’ and later as ‘Henry Sloboda’

    The adimad link in your post doesn’t appear to work. Has that site now disappeared ?? From that link Sergeants François Lemieur and Pierre Luca were also amongst the nine arrested with Souetre. I was interested in whether there was anything else on the site about the eight other “separate” defendants….

    Thanks

    David

    Dabid,

    There were eight defendants on trial at the Tribunal.

    3 military and 5 civilians.

    The military men were Jean-Rene Souetre and Sergeants Pierre Luca and Francois Lemineur

    The five civilians were:

    • Charles Charnay

    • René Guedi

    • Albert Lefèvre (Albert Levèvre would later escape with him through the tunnel at Saint Maurice L'Ardoise)

    • Dominique Squyilace

    • Yvon Toffolo

    image.thumb.png.bacf913d6dcc8a5d3d7421cc03ae2933.png

    Steve Thomas

  15. On 1/22/2023 at 2:54 PM, Roger Odisio said:
    I don't see how Souetre any longer can be dismissed as a possible shooter.  

     

    Roger,

    I do not believe that Jean Rene Souetre was a shooter in the JFK assassination based on what I know of the character of the man, rather than for any ideological or political reasons. My reasons for saying this are threefold:

     

    Reason# 1 – He was an honorable man. In the speech he gave at his trial in December, 1961, the column he wrote in the book, Algerie Francaise, 1942-1962, entitled; Le Premier Maquis; and the letter he wrote to the Camp Commandant after his escape from Camo L’Ardoise, he stressed that the actions he took were done as an officer in the service of France.

     

    After his escape from the prison camp, Souetre and Mura sent this letter to the prison commandant:

    Monsieur. Respectueux des décisions de justice qui ont fait de nous des hommes libres, nous avons jugé de notre devoir de nous soustraire à une mesure incompatible avec notre état d’officier. Nous aurions été indignes de notre uniforme en acceptant de remplacer dans votre camp ceux que la France nous avait donnés pour mission de combattre. Respectueux de nos serments, fidèles aux traditions de notre Arme, convaincus de la justice de notre cause, nous ne pouvions demeurer plus longtemps dans une expectative coupable. Nous sommes persuadés Monsieur qu’il vous est facile de comprendre. Nous en appelons à votre dignité en vous demandant de vous refuser à remplir à l’avenir des fonctions qui déshonorent le Corps de la Police française. Mura et Souètre.”

    (Arch. dép. du Gard, CA 1568).

     

    Respectful of the judicial decisions which made us free men, we felt it our duty to avoid a measure incompatible with our position as officers. We would have been unworthy of our uniform by agreeing to replace in your camp those whom France had given us to fight. Respectful of our oaths, faithful to the traditions of our Arms, convinced of the justice of our cause, we could not remain longer in a guilty expectancy. We are convinced Monsieur, that it is easy for you to understand. We appeal to your dignity by asking you to refuse to fulfill in the future, functions that dishonor the French Police Corps. Mura and Souètre."

     

    Before the Special Military Tribunal

    http://adimad.info/galerie/MAQUISBOURGUIRAT/Maquis_Sou_tre_2

     

    Captain Souètre Explains Why He Created the First “French Algerian” Maquis

     

    PARIS - The Special Military Tribunal created to explain the affected affairs to the State Sûreté in relation with the Algerian events, resumed its meeting here this afternoon in the locality of the 17th Correctional Chambers where it unraveled the process of Captain Souètre and his military and civilian accomplices who had constituted a combat group in Algeria.

     

    Before President Leyria opened the audience, eight men are in the box; three military in the leopard garb of parachutists; Captain René Souètre, Sergeants François Lemieur and Pierre Luca and five civilians; Charles Charnay, René Guedi, Albert Lefèvre, Dominique Squyilace, and Yvon Toffolo. The case of eight other defendents, in fact, are separate.

     

    Air Force Captain Souètre, had decided, last February, to take in the maquis several others that had been transferred to the Meropole. In some appeals to his “comrades of combat”, he affirmed that it was the “Hour of the Centurions” and that they should “Cross the Rubicon”.

     

    After having recruited several comrades, he installed himself on February 14th on the “Marcel” farm in Cheffa Ouled in the Bouguirat Canton, Mostaganem Department. It was there that the platoons of reconnaissance gendarmes arrested this first maquis on the 21st, 23rd and 26th of last February.

    gérant

     

    The Declaration

    Of Captain Souètre

     

    d'ecoutér

    I have not acted with any interest but by ideal,” stated Souêtre, summoned to explain his attempt.

     

    “We, soldiers at the moment of May 18th, we have known a hope without limit,” insisted the officer, who affirmed, “We listened to the Chief of State who said, among other things at Böne, (Algeria), “France is here with its vocation, it is here for always.” “We, armed, were according to our proper terms were assured that the parole of France would be given. But we were abused of that. We do not have any more reason to fight. So, rather than fill the the honorable function of a manager of soldiers in Constantine, or return to the Metropole, I preferred to remain in the face of danger”. I am a soldier. My place is in combat.” claimed Souetre. In taking the maquis, I was determined to organize in Ouarsenis a corps of French musulmans destined to combat the F.L.N. With these methods, these rough methods that I had experimented with officially in Kabylia in October, 1960, I attempted to enlist some pro-French orators with some under-officers (sub-alterns,or warrant officers?) to sponaneously come to join me. But on the eve of my arrest, I had to surrender to the evidence: those who had joined me had no combat experience. I had to return them”.

     

    Having also furnished his version of the facts and (cut?) all liason with the extremists, Captain Souêtre forcefully said, “The Army does not have any law, honor in the fidelity in the defense of national pride: It devalued me. The failure is the affair of mercenaries, not of French soldiers”.

    After the general amnesty devlared in 1968, Souetre returned to France and served in the civil government. And even ran as a member of the European Parliament in 2001.

    La Flamme October 14, 2013:

    http://la-flamme.fr/2013/10/15-octobre-1930-naissance-de-jean-souetre/

    Dès son retour en métropole, il devient membre du Front National et un pilier de la fédération de Savoie ou il se présente régulièrement aux élections.

    (My rough translation: From his return to France, he served as a member of the Front National Party and a pillar of society representing Savoie where he regularly ran in the elections.)

     

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haute-Savoie

    Haute-Savoie is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its capital is Annecy. To the north is Lake Geneva and Switzerland; to the south and southeast are the Mont Blanc and Aravis mountain ranges. The French entrance to the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Italy is in Haute-Savoie. It is noted for winter sports; the first Winter Olympic Games were held at Chamonix in 1924.

     

    Reason# 2 – He was the father of a newborn baby, and I don’t think he would have disgraced his newborn son.

    When he was posted to Algeria, he earned the nickname, “Robin Hood of Ouarsenis”, where he was stationed. (see below)

     

    His second marriage was to Josette Suzanne Marcailhou d'Aymeric on January 26, 1962. They had a child named Yannick.

    Yannick is a first name which originated in Brittany, France where the combination of its two Breton language parts, Yann and Ick results in the meaning of "Little John" or Petit Jean in French. It is used as a first name mostly for men and is of use, notably, in French speaking countries like France, (a part of) Belgium, Switzerland. (Romandy), Canada, (Quebec) and former French African colonies.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yannick

     

    image.png.d62c9866019944ae5ca7b6300c0cd52f.png

    The photo above appeared in an article by Jean-Claude Sanchez, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine "Debout les Paras" Le Journal de L'Union Nationale des Parachutistes. Jean-Claude Sanchez was the President of the Haute-Savoie section of the U.N.P. in 1982.

    The Caption reads: (Le Capitaine Souetre in Timimoun in 1957.)

    The Timimoun District is in Adrar Province, south-central Algeria.

     

    Errol Flynn in the movie, Robin Hood:

    image.png.92b4434f73d7789308c38329b1a2167b.png

     

    Reason# 3 – He was flamboyant. If he took an action, it would have been done out in the open. I don’t think he would have shot someone long-range, hidden as a sniper. That wasn’t in his character.

    On January 20, 1962, he married Josette Marcailhou d'Aymeric, cousin of René Villard. This created a scandal in French social circles has they were married in the camp of Saint Maurice-l’Ardoise. where he was imprisoned. The ceremony took place in the presence of the deputy commander of the IX Military Region, General Clémen, who serced as a witness for the groom. The marriage was covered by the magazine, Paris Match.

    Instead of a Guard of Honor consisting of crossed swords, the inmates are holding strands of barbed wire.

    image.thumb.png.d0b89972de732ee8a1f0259d750e332d.png

    image.thumb.png.048faf3a0cd148b18aafb4d8290df189.png

    "CAMP ST MAURICE ARDOISE"
    image.png.4975483fc5181632f008119731053d21.png

     

    For these reasons, I just don't see him as a sniper, hiding in the shadows, shooting someone from ambush.

    Steve Thomas

  16. 8 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

    You gotta love it.

     

    House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer to Fox News: "My concern is that the federal government doesn't know what's in that balloon. Is that bioweapons in that balloon? Did that balloon take off from Wuhan?"

    https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1621542281294528512

     

     

    Or worse, what if it has woke trans undocumented drag queen athletes?

     

    Steve Thomas

  17. You gotta love it.

     

    House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer to Fox News: "My concern is that the federal government doesn't know what's in that balloon. Is that bioweapons in that balloon? Did that balloon take off from Wuhan?"

    https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1621542281294528512

     

    "If Joe Biden and his administration are too weak to do the obvious and shoot down an enemy surveillance balloon perhaps we just let the good people of Montana do their thing… I imagine they have the capability and the resolve to do it all themselves."

    https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1621544538794778624

    I can just picture a couple of hundred thousand cowboys blasting away at the empty sky.

    What could go wrong?

    Steve Thomas

     

  18. Last week, a member of Congress mailed out grenades to his fellow members. In his accompanying note, he made sure to ,mention that the grenades were inert.

    This week, one Committee of the House passed a resolution allowing Committee members to bring guns into the Committee meetings.

    At least three members have been spotted wearing lapel pins fashioned in the shape of an AR-15.

    It's a race to see who can be the most outrageous. Outrageousness gets you attention.

    Outrage gets attnention.

    Attention gets you money.

    Money gets you power.

    They're not going to stop until somebody gets killed.

    Then, they'll offer their thoughts and prayers.

    Steve Thomas

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