French agents staged their own side’s bombings to win the F.L.N.’s trust

Evidence

To enhance credibility, Léger and Surcouf “helped” the new F.L.N. set-up to explode a few harmless bombs in Algiers, and even arranged the bombing of their own headquarters. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 806

Categorization

• QUESTION: How did the paras’ own headquarters being bombed go unexplained to the French public and army? A rabbit hole worth chasing.
• SEED: Angle: the psychology of credibilty-building in counterinsurgency — self-harm as intelligence currency.
• XREF: connects to: French double agents inside the F.L.N. betrayed Yacef and Ali la Pointe — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 804; The French state secretly armed irregulars to bomb pro-O.A.S. cafés — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1496

Related

• French double agents inside the F.L.N. betrayed Yacef and Ali la Pointe (similarity 0.83)
• The French state secretly armed irregulars to bomb pro-O.A.S. cafés (similarity 0.82)
• The F.L.N. framed a French proxy for attacks to destroy his credibility (similarity 0.82)
• F.L.N. terror backfired against France, not the F.L.N., abroad (similarity 0.81)
• F.L.N. terrorism in France alienated even its expected leftist allies. (similarity 0.81)
• French intelligence secretly controlled European factories to sabotage FLN arms shipments (similarity 0.80)
• The F.L.N. infiltrated and turned the French-made Force K against them (similarity 0.80)
• French penetration of the F.L.N. netted a whole zone’s general staff (similarity 0.80)
• French para raids dismantled Yacef’s entire Algiers bomb network by February 1957 (similarity 0.80)
• French disinformation exploiting Algerian internal mistrust triggered murderous self-purges (similarity 0.79)
• The F.L.N. physically extended its Algerian terror and fundraising methods to metropolitan France. (similarity 0.79)
• F.L.N. terrorism backfired against France more than against Algeria itself (similarity 0.79)
• Terrorist attacks boosted the F.L.N.’s diplomatic standing despite revulsion (similarity 0.78)
• F.L.N. attacks on French schools were targeted war against French culture, not random savagery (similarity 0.78)