Thursday, May 28, 1998
Ill-advised raid poor footing for World Cup kick-off events
COLUMN: Overzealous seizure a public relations nightmare to host
France
From the country that brought you Louis XIV, the guillotine and
the Napoleonic Wars, not to mention cooked snails, smelly underarms
and the worst service this side of Sweeney Todd comes another
public relations nightmare.
On the brink of the World Cup’s opening day, our dear little
Gallic friends are desperately trying to live up to their unending
tradition of looking foolish, aggressive and greedy on an
international scale.
Granted, it’s hard to top their use of frog legs as appetizers
or their merry little efforts in Angola as examples of public
relations nightmares – but, boy, you’ve really got to give the
French credit for trying.
Item: On Tuesday, in an effort timed specifically for the World
Cup, 88 Islamic militants were rounded up because of what French
Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement said was evidence of
terrorist attacks planned for the Cup. French police sources said
that while they did recover $150,000, some videocassettes, a
computer, and various documents, no guns or explosives were
found.
Oh brother, better get the spin doctors on the next pond jumper
out of LaGuardia.
Sure, the people arrested may have been plotting something, and
if so, they should be duly punished, but come on – money, a laptop
and some paper as the only evidence in a raid of this magnitude?
This smacks of a put-up job.
Now granted, most people have an intense dislike for terrorists
– Islamic or otherwise – and I, for one, truly hope that the French
were in the right by making these arrests and that the World Cup
goes off without a hitch – or explosion, for that matter. But one
way or another, it is the timing of this little effort to protect
the Cup that makes the French look perhaps a tad overzealous, with
a chance of appearing downright stupid.
If this really does shake out to be a public relations mock-up,
then I don’t think Chevenement and his cronies went far enough.
Hell, they would already look ridiculous, so why not just keep
going?
If they’re afraid of Islamic militants running amok during the
World Cup, why not just arrest the Iranian National Team when they
enter the country? Even better, why not detain their fans before
the U.S.-Iran match in the first round? That would seem logical,
provided they’re carrying some cash, some pieces of paper and a
videotape or two.
If, after all of these efforts, the French are still afraid of
an international incident and nervous that someone may try to wreck
the Cup, then, in all of their wisdom, they could take the next
logical step on our little peacekeeping checklist.
They could have the Gendarmes drop by a few league soccer
matches and round up a handful of soccer hooligans over the next
few weeks. Everyone knows they’re as fanatical and violent as any
militant group. Sure, setting off a bomb is one thing, but hell
hath no fury like a drunken, jackbooted thug carrying a broken
bottle after his team loses.
And when a legion of irate Frenchmen take to the street after
their team chokes again (a la Platini in the ’70s and Baggio in
1992), Chevenement is going to wish for a bomb or two.
This should be a glorious time for the French. They’re presently
hosting one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the
world, and in two weeks they will host the biggest sporting event,
bar none, in the world. This should be a time of fun and
celebration, not of wanton strong-arming.
But, just like serving a bad wine to start a dinner, the French
have put a left taste in everyone’s mouth before the main course
has arrived.
Mark Shapiro is a Daily Bruin Staff Writer and columnist. E-mail
responses to [email protected]
Mark Shapiro