Bernard Edinger leads French defence correspondents to US

Bernard Edinger, former correspondent, meets General David Petraeus at the headquarters of the US Central Command at Tampa, Florida on 16 June (photo).

Since his early retirement in April 2001, one of Edinger's activities has been to organise trips abroad for the French Defence Correspondents Association (AJD) of which he is a board member. His latest trip was at the head of a group of nine AJD members to Tampa as well as to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home of US Special Forces.

"Meeting General Petraeus was no easy matter and it took me four months to set up the visit," Edinger reports. "General Petraeus, sometimes described as the most influential US military man since General Dwight Eisenhower, received us for 40 minutes and spoke freely about the combat fronts for which he is responsible - Iraq and Afghanistan and, increasingly, Pakistan.”

The meeting may have been because President Obama wants President Nicolas Sarkozy to increase French troop presence in Afghanistan. “He hoped to get his message through to the French public through my colleagues who included representatives from such influential media as the AFP news agency and the daily newspaper Le Figaro, both of whom gave wide coverage to Petraeus' remarks," Edinger said.

The French group later flew to Fort Bragg where they were given rare access to the Special Forces who are extremely active in Afghanistan, including at a school for Afghan commandos run jointly by US and French Special Forces.

Edinger has organised previous visits to the United States, Israel, Germany and Britain. "Organising such visits is practically a full-time job since it means contacts with foreign embassies and defence ministries to set up meaningful and interesting events such as joining a night patrol off the Gaza coast on an Israeli missile boat. I brought along seasick pills but most members of the group said they would not need them. This was before the boat hit full speed and some correspondents spent nearly the whole trip leaning over the rail as we bounced along at high speed!” The job also involves organising air travel, renting mini-buses, reserving hotels and, especially, finding good restaurants for “very festive dinners” every night.  

"Of course, like media everywhere, editors have to be convinced that the stories that are going to be brought back are really worth it before they approve the expense of travel. So I have to make sure our hosts will show us really original subjects and I also have to try to keep prices as low as possible. 

“Our association picks up part of the tab for the travel and many military establishments have special discount prices in nearby hotels which we can benefit from. In London, we were able to stay in a posh officer's club at very low member prices; but only because the British MoD identified me to the club as a French officer. My colleagues had a hard time keeping a straight face when the club receptionist asked on our arrival: ‘Which of you gentlemen is Lieutenant Colonel Edinger?’" ■