For weeks Algeria's Minister Resident Robert Lacoste had been insisting he needed at least 100,000 more troops to restore order in Algeria. For weeks schoolmasterly Socialist Premier Guy Mollet put off the decision. He knew that France's military barrel was empty, and that reinforcements could be found only through the politically unpopular method of recalling reservists. And as a Socialist, he had campaigned on a liberal program of "peace in Algeria," based on concessions and negotiations. Last week Lacoste flew back to Paris and threatened to resign unless the troops were forthcoming. Faced with the hard logic of rebellion,...
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