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Speaker 1: The Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to this Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that believes there's no time like the present

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Speaker 1: to learn about the past. I'm Gabe Lousier and today

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Speaker 1: we're talking about a shameful act of state sanctioned terrorism

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Speaker 1: that embarrassed the nation of France and shocked the rest

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Speaker 1: of the world. The day was August. French officials denied

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Speaker 1: any involvement in the recent bombing of the anti nuclear

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Speaker 1: protest vessel Rainbow Warrior. For nearly a decade, the modified

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Speaker 1: fishing trawler had served as the flagship of green Peace,

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Speaker 1: an international conservation group. It had first used the vessel

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Speaker 1: in a series of protests against whale and sea hunting

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Speaker 1: in the late nineteen seventies and early eighties. In nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty five, the Rainbow Warrior also began protesting French nuclear

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Speaker 1: testing in the South Pacific. In early July of that year,

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Speaker 1: the ship was moored in the White Temata Harbor in Auckland,

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Speaker 1: New Zealand, where it was being prepped for another protest

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Speaker 1: at murr Auroa at All. However, the Rainbow Warrior never

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Speaker 1: made its departure. Instead, it became the target of a

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Speaker 1: terrorist attack, one that wound up sinking the ship and

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Speaker 1: killing a Greenpeace photographer. French Secret Service agents were quickly

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Speaker 1: blamed for the bombing, and though the French government initially

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Speaker 1: denied the allegation, it was later forced to admit that

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Speaker 1: it had indeed ordered the attack. Just before midnight on

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Speaker 1: July tenth, night five to French intelligence agents put on

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Speaker 1: diving gear and swam beneath the Rainbow Warrior. Their mission

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Speaker 1: was to neutralize the ship so that it couldn't continue

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Speaker 1: its protest campaign at the next nuclear test site. To

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Speaker 1: do this, the agents attached two powerful naval mines known

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Speaker 1: as limpets to the hull of the ship. One explosive

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Speaker 1: was placed near the propeller and was meant to render

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Speaker 1: the ship inoperable and too costly to repair. The other

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Speaker 1: was placed on the exterior wall of the engine room

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Speaker 1: and was meant to sink the vessel entirely. The first

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Speaker 1: mine was detonated at eleven thirty eight PM, and the

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Speaker 1: second not long after. The blasts tore a massive hole

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Speaker 1: in the ship's hull, killing its power and sending a

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Speaker 1: torrent of water rushing through the vessel. All of the

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Speaker 1: crew and passengers on board managed to escape before the

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Speaker 1: ship sank, except for one person, a thirty five year

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Speaker 1: old Portuguese Dutch photographer named Fernando Pereira. He had joined

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Speaker 1: the green Peace crew to document French nuclear testing and

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Speaker 1: had stayed on the ship after the first explosion in

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Speaker 1: order to retrieve his camera equipment. Unfortunately, when the second,

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Speaker 1: more powerful bomb went off, Pereira was trapped by the

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Speaker 1: incoming water and drowned. New Zealand police immediately suspected France's

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Speaker 1: involvement in the bombing, as no one else did to

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Speaker 1: gain from the sinking of an anti nuclear protest ship.

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Speaker 1: These suspicions were seemingly confirmed two weeks later when two

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Speaker 1: French agents posing as Swiss tourists were caught trying to

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Speaker 1: flee the country. The two agents, Dominique Priar and Alan Mefar,

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Speaker 1: were arrested on charges of murder, arson and possession of

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Speaker 1: false passports. By that point, French authorities had already denied

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Speaker 1: any knowledge of the operation, but in light of the arrests,

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Speaker 1: President Francois me Tehran appointed a special investigator to conduct

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Speaker 1: a formal inquiry. On August that investigator Bernard Tree released

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Speaker 1: a report fully exonerating the French government. He conceded that

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Speaker 1: the agents arrested did belong to French intelligence, but said

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Speaker 1: they had only been sent to New Zealand to spy

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Speaker 1: on the Rainbow Warrior, not to blow it up. According

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Speaker 1: to Trico, quote all that I have heard and seen

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Speaker 1: makes me certain that no decision was taken at the

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Speaker 1: government level aimed at damaging the Rainbow Warrior. Understandably, New

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Speaker 1: Zealand Prime Minister David Lange wasn't buying. He condemned Trico's report,

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Speaker 1: saying that quote worse than just lacking in credibility, it

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Speaker 1: paints a completely false picture which cannot be sustained according

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Speaker 1: to the evidence. Some French officials couldn't stomach the report either.

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Speaker 1: Allan Madeline, a Conservative deputy in the National Assembly, said, quote,

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Speaker 1: the report takes the French people for imbeciles. It would

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Speaker 1: have us believe that the government sends out frogman when

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Speaker 1: it needs foe does French officials stuck to their dubious

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Speaker 1: story for the next several weeks, but they had to

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Speaker 1: change their tune when a British newspaper revealed evidence that

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Speaker 1: the attack had been authorized by the French government. In

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Speaker 1: a televised statement on September twenty three, French Prime Minister

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Speaker 1: Laurent Fabus confirmed the ugly truth. He said, quote agents

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Speaker 1: of the d g s E the French Secret service,

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Speaker 1: sank this boat. They acted on orders. The truth about

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Speaker 1: this affair is cruel, but it is essential that it

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Speaker 1: be clearly and thoroughly established. French officials maintained that it

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Speaker 1: was not the head of state who gave the order

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Speaker 1: to sink the Rainbow Warrior, but decades later it was

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Speaker 1: discovered that President Francois me Tehran had indeed ordered the bombing. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: back in Auckland, the French agents pled guilty to lesser

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Speaker 1: charges manslaughter and willful damage of property. Each was sentenced

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Speaker 1: to about ten years in prison, but due to a

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Speaker 1: deal brokered by the u N, the agents spent less

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Speaker 1: than two years in a French prison before being released

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Speaker 1: and returned to active service. At least three other agents

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Speaker 1: were suspected in the bombing, but no other conspirators ever

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Speaker 1: stood trial for the crime. A year after the incident,

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Speaker 1: France issued a formal apology and paid New Zealand twenty

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Speaker 1: one million dollars in compensation. While it's true the attack

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Speaker 1: had been aimed at Greenpeace and not at New Zealand itself,

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Speaker 1: it was none the less the first act of terrorism

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Speaker 1: committed on the country shores. For that reason, most Kiwis

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Speaker 1: found it difficult to forgive and forget, and relations between

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Speaker 1: the two once amiable nations remained tense for years to come.

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Speaker 1: As for the Rainbow Warrior, it was damaged beyond repair,

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Speaker 1: just as the French government had planned. On December twelfth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven, the half sunk ship was towed to

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Speaker 1: Mottory Bay, where it was submerged and turned into an

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Speaker 1: artificial reef, a refuge for marine life and a destination

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Speaker 1: for recreational divers. According to Greenpeace, the name Rainbow Warrior

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Speaker 1: was taken from an old prophecy from the Cree people.

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Speaker 1: When the world is sick and dying, the people will

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Speaker 1: rise up like warriors of the Rainbow. The original ship

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Speaker 1: never rose again, but a few years later Greenpeace launched

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Speaker 1: a new vessel, the Rainbow Warrior too. For more than

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Speaker 1: two decades, that replacement ship carried on the mission of

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Speaker 1: the original campaigning for nuclear disarmament and environmental protection throughout

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Speaker 1: the world, including in French Polynesia. France's nuclear program continued

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Speaker 1: off and on until January, when the last French nuclear

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Speaker 1: weapon was detonated beneath the murror u Roa at All.

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Speaker 1: Nine months later, France finally signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test

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Speaker 1: Band Treaty, ending it's harmful three decade run of nuclear

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Speaker 1: testing in the Pacific. The Rainbow Warrior, too has since

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Speaker 1: been decommissioned, but in green Peace launched a third ship,

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Speaker 1: known simply as Rainbow Warrior. Unlike the first two vessels,

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Speaker 1: the third ship wasn't converted from an existing model. Instead,

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Speaker 1: it was the world's first ship purpose built for environmental

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Speaker 1: protests and scientific excursions. At the time of recording, Rainbow

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Speaker 1: Warrior is still in service, a floating tribute to the

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Speaker 1: original and to the dream of a more green and

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Speaker 1: peaceful future for all of us. I'm Gabe Lousier and

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Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode, consider

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Speaker 1: following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at t d

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Speaker 1: i HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions,

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Speaker 1: feel free to send them my way. At this day

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Speaker 1: at i heeart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays

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Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again soon for another day

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Speaker 1: in history class