They know how to kill and have killed, but to assassinate a public figure like de Gaulle requires something more than just someone motivated to kill him. ”It is cold at 6:40 in the morning of a March day in Paris, and seems even colder when a man is about to be executed by a firing squad.” The book begins with an execution for the attempted assassination of the president of France. They formed a coalition called the OAS and recruited members willing to die trying to kill de Gaulle. The men who were bathed in blood securing those colonies felt betrayed. He gave Algiers their independence and subsequently most of the rest of France’s colonies as well. These same men had supported his return to power believing that he would strengthen the colonies, but de Gaulle had a different objective.

So his chances of success on schedule are surer than anyone else’s, but he will not even enter into operation until he has devised a plan that will enable him not only to complete the mission, but to escape unharmed.”Ĭharles de Gaulle, the president of France, has alienated many of his top military staff with his decisions regarding French colonies. Not being idealistic, he is not likely to have second thoughts at the last minute about who else might get hurt in the explosion or whatever method, and being a professional he has calculated the risks to the last contingency. ”A professional does not act out of fervour and is therefore more calm and less likely to make elementary errors.

Forsyth day of the jackal