By By Michael Cosgrove Sep 19, 2010 in Politics From an “increased” to a “high" risk scenario, France has now gone to enhanced red terror alert status. Many people consider that this may be a ploy by President Sarkozy to divert them away from other more politically embarrassing issues. So it came as no surprise when Bernard Squarcini, head of France’s counter-espionage and counter- terrorism intelligence agency (DCRI) issued yet another such warning in A few days later, on the 14th, came the parliamentary vote which adopted the law which, if ratified, would make it illegal for women to wear the burqa in almost all public places, and that same evening saw the Eiffel Tower and a train station in Paris being evacuated after Two days after that, the French woke up to read that 7 French workers had been Later that day, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux held a press conference in front of the Eiffel Tower And on that evening, President Sarkozy summoned his Defense and Security Service staff to an urgent meeting at the Elysee. President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, addresses MPs and Members of the Lords in the Royal Gallery, as his wife, Carla Bruni, watches on. By UK Parliament Meantime, it had become evident that the public were not yet convinced that there was any reason to believe these warnings, and that is probably why Finally, government spokesman Luc Chatel All these elements are impossible to dismiss as representing mere governmental speculation, and it has become obvious that French nationals are being targeted for kidnap by terrorist groups with increasing regularity, particularly in Northern and Sub-Saharan regions. In this context, it would be only normal that the French should treat these warnings seriously. But that is not happening. On the contrary, French public opinion is massively skeptical of the warnings, with a common point of view being that the president and government are issuing exaggerated warnings in an attempt to turn people’s attention away from a wide range of embarrassing issues which have led to the government being put under enormous pressure. Those issues include the controversial and damaging Roma question, the scandal involving accusations of fraud, favoritism and conflict of interests being leveled at Labor Minister Eric Woerth, the pension reform bill and accusations of government implication in various alleged financial and tax irregularities involving L’Oréal boss Liliane Bettencourt, the richest woman in France. A kind of resigned cynicism seems to have taken over the country, and the refusal of French citizens to take the current terrorist threat warnings seriously reflects the public’s total disaffection with their politicians. Le Point has published There are thousands of other, similar, points of view to be read, and they are no different to what people are saying in the street. Someone said to me last night “I couldn’t care less. They’re such liars you just don’t know what to believe anymore.” It is impossible of course to know how real the threats facing France are, but it is vaguely disturbing to know that there are only two possible outcomes to the present security situation, and that neither of them is particularly appealing. The first is that there will be no terrorist attacks in France in the near future, which will lead to the public “knowing for sure” that the government lied and further alienated the people from their leaders. The second is that there will be an attack – or attacks – on French soil. And in that case the people of France are in such a cynical frame of mind that they will surely accuse the government of not doing enough to warn them convincingly or to anticipate the attacks. Neither of those outcomes is satisfactory, and this is a lose-lose scenario for France and the French. Western countries are becoming used to regular official reminders that the risk of terrorist attacks has increased or that the intelligence community has picked up “increased chatter” from terrorist sources in one place or another which could indicate that something bad is being planned.So it came as no surprise when Bernard Squarcini, head of France’s counter-espionage and counter- terrorism intelligence agency (DCRI) issued yet another such warning in an interview he gave to French weekly Journal du Dimanche on September 10. That interview was not widely reported elsewhere in the French press and the news quietly disappeared without leaving so much as a trace.A few days later, on the 14th, came the parliamentary vote which adopted the law which, if ratified, would make it illegal for women to wear the burqa in almost all public places, and that same evening saw the Eiffel Tower and a train station in Paris being evacuated after anonymous phone calls claimed that bombs had been planted in them.Two days after that, the French woke up to read that 7 French workers had been kidnapped in the Republic of Niger, and it was instantly suspected the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb was responsible. This group has already kidnapped French nationals, and one hostage was assassinated last month. The companies which employed the 7 hostages have since recalled all their workers from Niger.Later that day, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux held a press conference in front of the Eiffel Tower to announce that the red status alert had been reinforced and that France’s anti-terrorist disposition for the French mainland – Vigipirate – was to step up its patrols and checks at tourist sites, airports and other places considered as being at risk from attacks. He claimed that the risk of attack had grown over “these last few days and hours.”And on that evening, President Sarkozy summoned his Defense and Security Service staff to an urgent meeting at the Elysee.Meantime, it had become evident that the public were not yet convinced that there was any reason to believe these warnings, and that is probably why Le Figaro reported yesterday that Squarcini had issued yet another statement, this time to say that “France is facing a major terrorist threat and all the indicators are flashing red.”Finally, government spokesman Luc Chatel reaffirmed this afternoon that recent events “justify a state of reinforced vigilance.”All these elements are impossible to dismiss as representing mere governmental speculation, and it has become obvious that French nationals are being targeted for kidnap by terrorist groups with increasing regularity, particularly in Northern and Sub-Saharan regions.In this context, it would be only normal that the French should treat these warnings seriously. But that is not happening. On the contrary, French public opinion is massively skeptical of the warnings, with a common point of view being that the president and government are issuing exaggerated warnings in an attempt to turn people’s attention away from a wide range of embarrassing issues which have led to the government being put under enormous pressure. Those issues include the controversial and damaging Roma question, the scandal involving accusations of fraud, favoritism and conflict of interests being leveled at Labor Minister Eric Woerth, the pension reform bill and accusations of government implication in various alleged financial and tax irregularities involving L’Oréal boss Liliane Bettencourt, the richest woman in France.A kind of resigned cynicism seems to have taken over the country, and the refusal of French citizens to take the current terrorist threat warnings seriously reflects the public’s total disaffection with their politicians.Le Point has published a selection of reactions to the warnings, and they mirror those of the majority of the French. “Why all these warnings now? There are no hard facts so this looks like a red herring from the Elysee.” “A policy of fear-mongering isn’t worth anything without something concrete to go on.” “This looks like a shocking and shameful attempt to turn people’s attention away from other issues and make them afraid so they’ll forget this entire pitiful and lamentable spectacle being offered by the government, mired as it is in despicable scandals…”There are thousands of other, similar, points of view to be read, and they are no different to what people are saying in the street. Someone said to me last night “I couldn’t care less. They’re such liars you just don’t know what to believe anymore.”It is impossible of course to know how real the threats facing France are, but it is vaguely disturbing to know that there are only two possible outcomes to the present security situation, and that neither of them is particularly appealing.The first is that there will be no terrorist attacks in France in the near future, which will lead to the public “knowing for sure” that the government lied and further alienated the people from their leaders.The second is that there will be an attack – or attacks – on French soil. And in that case the people of France are in such a cynical frame of mind that they will surely accuse the government of not doing enough to warn them convincingly or to anticipate the attacks.Neither of those outcomes is satisfactory, and this is a lose-lose scenario for France and the French. This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com More about Terrorism, Terror alert, France More news from terrorism terror alert france