A French Template for a US Scandal: L’Affaire Dreyfus - Flynn.

Ile du Diable - Devil's Island, Photo ET 1988

A French Template for a US Scandal: L’Affaire Dreyfus Flynn.

“L’affaire Dreyfus” is named after Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army Captain of Jewish descent. In 1894 Dreyfus was wrongfully accused of spying for the German Embassy in Paris.

The French counterintelligence who had planted a spy at the German Embassy intercepted a handwritten communication with secret arms information from an unknown French officer. The handwriting was falsely attributed to Artillery Captain Alfred Dreyfus.

Dreyfus was convicted of treason, publicly degraded, dishonored, his saber broken as the ultimate symbolic punishment. This very public and spectacular case split French public opinion along the fault lines of political preferences.

Captain Dreyfus who always claimed his innocence was handed a life sentence. He was brought to the terrible “Devil’s Island” off the coast of French Guyana, where he was the lone prisoner. Devil’s Island lies in shark infested waters and had been shuttered as a prison. It was reopened specially for Captain Dreyfus’ detention, a sign that this perfect isolation was meant to be vengeful and protect the biased prosecutors.

The passions were flowing when a new head of military intelligence, Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart discovered that the handwriting belonged to someone else, to Army Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy.

Public opinion until there had been fueled largely by a partly antisemitic press obedient to the establishment. The French General Staff had willfully supported the demise of Captain Dreyfus as a welcome distraction from their own problems of the day. The new suspect, Esterhazy was indicted but hastily cleared from his accusations by a court at the orders of political interests. Picquart the whistleblower was even arrested, and later “promoted” to Northern Africa. The “Affaire” had become an “Affaire d’Etat” a State Affair. And it was handled accordingly for the sake of the “Raison d’Etat”. Raison d’Etat invokes purely political reasons for a government to act without transparency, justice, or honesty in the higher interest of the State. Some call this “Deep State” at work.

French intellectuals started expressing more and more concern about what they saw as a miscarriage of justice by a dysfunctional State. Public opinion split into “Dreyfusards” and “Anti-Dreyfusards”. In 1898 famed French writer Emile Zola wrote an open letter to the French President to protest the wrongdoings. The letter was published on the front page of a newspaper, “L’Aurore” under the headline “J’accuse”. Emile Zola denounced the conspiration and collusion at the highest levels of the State and he named names.

As expected, Zola was sued. He eventually fled into exile to London. Picquart was arrested again. The pressure for a retrial of Captain Dreyfus however was growing. Those opposed claimed “res judicata” that the matter had been adjudicated and cannot be brought again. In 1899 though the Supreme Court gave its agreement for a retrial. Dreyfus was brought back from Devil’s Island. The Martial Court however sentenced him again to 10 years in prison this time, though it conceded mitigating circumstances. He was offered a Presidential pardon, but in exchange had to plead guilty. Thus “Raison d’Etat” was given a way out of embarrassment and out of individual consequences for the conspirators.

Dreyfus was rehabilitated in 1906 and reintegrated the Army as a Major. In the meantime, Zola had written “Truth”. I visited Devil’s Island in 1988. It is a place of horror in Paradise under the palm trees.

Back to the US and three-star US General Michael Flynn. In 2017 Lt. Gen. Flynn became President Trump’s National Security Advisor. He has the credentials of a highly competent military leader. A registered Democrat, he was retired early in 2014 upon disagreement with military strategies in the Obama Administration. Caught in the “Russian collusion” epic, he was accused of dealing with the enemy, he was fired, pursued, ruined, disparaged.

Does this sound familiar? After seeing the plot as it developed in the “Affaire Dreyfus”, what looks similar? It is open to anyone to conclude based on these keywords in the Dreyfus story: spies intercept communications, they wrongfully accuse one individual, he is publicly shamed, the spies use forgeries, the individual is sentenced in a miscarriage of justice, he is ruined, he needs to plead guilty to obtain some mercy, authorities invoke “res judicata” to bar any reopening of the case. Devil’s Island in this case is symbolic for Flynn going through hell. As for the Raison d’Etat behind all of this, history will have the final word.

Are you now a Dreyfusard or an anti-Dreyfusard?

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For readers outside the US, a bit of an encyclopedia about typical US practices, as they appear in judicial news about the Flynn case. These practices have always made me wonder:

•        FISA Court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, is a secret Court approving electronic surveillance and other means of investigation for foreign intelligence purposes. The targeted individuals don’t know that they are a Court case. Compare to the European Convention on Human Rights, article 6: “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.”
•        Federal judges. They are appointed for a life term, which is a protection to keep them independent. Does it keep them honest?
•        Plea deals: when the accused in a criminal case pleads guilty in exchange for reduced sentencing. In an extremely costly judicial system as is in the US, it is a questionable practice, as a guilty plea can be coerced out of an individual who just cannot afford to fight the accusations. It is even more of a danger in a system where law-enforcement can entrap a person into contradictions, or even lead someone willfully into criminal behavior and then make an arrest. It is called framing. But you already knew that from watching Hollywood movies.