Did They Surrender When Arrested?

Loyal reader RB notes a story that leaves him (and us) with many questions...

French intelligence agents convicted of bombing a Greenpeace protest ship in Auckland's harbor two decades ago have appealed a court decision that would allow parts of their 1985 trial to be broadcast on television, a lawyer said Tuesday.

A High Court ruling last week gave state network Television New Zealand permission to broadcast never-before-seen video of the pretrial appearance of agents Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur for the bombing and sinking of the environmental group's vessel, Rainbow Warrior.

The two agents of France's DGSE spy agency were convicted of willful damage and the 1985 manslaughter of Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira, who died in the attack. Each was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Their court appearance was relayed to media in a room next to the court, but has never been seen by the public. A so-called depositions hearing -- part of the pretrial process -- started Nov. 4, 1985, and during the hearing the agents changed their pleas to guilty. They were formally convicted Nov. 22.

The Rainbow Warrior was in New Zealand being prepared for a protest at sea against French nuclear bomb tests in the South Pacific when the explosion ripped open its hull and the vessel sank.

After serving less than a year of their sentences in New Zealand, Mafart and Prieur were deported and returned to Paris as heroes. New Zealand's government called the bombing the country's first terror attack.

RB wants to know what's funnier -- the idea of French spies, or the French celebrating terrorists? I personally find the first two words of the article to be funnier than anything else. French intelligence? What the hell is that?