Algeria.

As I said in my reminiscing post, I have an idea for another blog (actually tons of ideas....) but one that has been kicking around in my head for sometime now is a blog about Algeria and the French colonial war in (IIRC) the 1950s.

Over at the Belmont Club I (on a slightly related blog) noted that the French were unable to provide security for the Algerian people and this drove people to desert the French. Perhaps, not to support the FIS but at least not to support the French. Anyway someone responded that the problem for France was its extreme overreaction to the FLN that turned people off. No doubt, but it seems the number of Algerians killed by fellow Algerians is staggering. This points up the first and most important obligation of a government is to secure the life of its citizenry. If a government can not do that then it is done for.