Torture’s contested truth made it a lasting canker for France

Evidence

The death of Ben M’hidi left, alive and at liberty, only Belkacem Krim out of the original neuf historiques of the F.L.N. Like an unsightly molehill, it also threw up the whole ugly but hitherto largely subterranean issue of the maltreatment of rebel suspects, of torture and summary executions; or what, in another context and depending upon the point of view, might perhaps be termed “war crimes”, and what in France came simply to be known as la torture. From the Battle of Algiers onwards this was to become a growing canker for France, leaving behind a poison that would linger in the French system long after the war itself had ended. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 580 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war; The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 580; Torture in Algeria left a lingering poison in the French system (+7 more)

Related

• Torture in Algeria left a lingering poison in the French system (similarity 0.96)
• The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France (similarity 0.96)
• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war (similarity 0.92)
• Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France (similarity 0.90)
• Perpetrators of torture carried its moral damage home to France in person (similarity 0.88)
• Torture was the chief factor in France’s defeat. (similarity 0.88)
• Torture more than any single factor caused France’s Algerian defeat (similarity 0.88)
• Torture in Algeria threatened France with state self-destruction (similarity 0.86)
• Torture was effective in winning the short-term battle of Algiers (similarity 0.86)
• Torture proved a boomerang weapon that undermined the power using it (similarity 0.86)
• Torture’s ambiguous truth makes it a potent propaganda weapon for both sides (similarity 0.85)
• Torture became institutionalized in the French army during the Battle of Algiers (similarity 0.85)
• Torture’s Nazi echoes caused France’s defeat despite its military supremacy (similarity 0.84)
• French governors repeatedly ordered torture prohibited before the Battle of Algiers (similarity 0.84)
• Torture destroyed the Muslim third force and turned French opinion against the war (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Torture boomeranged against France in the Algerian war #corroborates (0.90)
• Torture in Algeria left a lingering poison in the French system #corroborates (0.85)
• The Battle of Algiers exposed torture as a lasting poison for France #corroborates (0.80) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 580
• Torture won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war for France #corroborates (0.70)
• Algeria would be lost on France’s interior political front, not on the military front #complicates (0.55)
• Torture in Algeria threatened France with state self-destruction #complicates (0.50) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 734
• Soustelle predicted France would lose Algeria on the home front, not militarily. #complicates (0.50) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 749