Post by Atrahasis on Dec 25, 2004 6:37:17 GMT -5
Militants 'wanted Bush re-elected'
Freed journalist attacks failed mediation bid
Friday, December 24, 2004 Posted: 1646 GMT (0046 HKT)
Malbrunot, right, and Chesnot speak to reporters after arriving in Paris.
(CNN) -- A French journalist held hostage in Iraq for four months says his captors wanted U.S. President George W. Bush re-elected because it would help promote their cause.
Georges Malbrunot, who was released Tuesday along with fellow journalist Christian Chesnot, told CNN the Iraqi militants "need someone tough against them, it's like boxing."
Speaking by telephone from Vichy, France on Friday, Malbrunot quoted his captors as saying Bush's re-election "would improve our ability to fight."
"We vote for Bush because Bush help us a lot by intervening in Afghanistan. So, from that point we could spread all over the world and we are now in 60 countries," Malbrunot cited one of the militants as saying on October 15, two weeks before Bush defeated Democrat John Kerry.
Malbrunot, 41, quoted the same militant as saying: "Our main targets are Saudi Arabia and Egypt. And because of Bush, if he is re-elected, we are sure that American soldiers will remain in Iraq for years."
In a separate interview on RTL radio, Malbrunot said it would take time for them to recover from their ordeal.
"Sleeping, for example, is hard," he said. "But the life of a free man is far easier than that of a hostage," he added.
Le Figaro reporter Malbrunot and Chesnot, 37, who works for Radio France Internationale, were reported missing August 21 after they left Baghdad for Najaf.
An Iraqi insurgent group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said in a statement posted on Islamist Web sites Tuesday it released the pair for several reasons, including some French government positions on Iraq and appeals by Islamic groups for their freedom.
They returned to France late on Wednesday to a heroes' welcome from family, friends and politicians led by President Jacques Chirac. French government sources said the release was arranged through intermediaries, and no ransom was asked and none was paid.
The militant group had demanded the French government repeal a ban on the wearing of head scarves by Muslim girls in public schools.
The law, which also covers religious items such as yarmulkes and large crosses, took effect at the start of the school year.
The French government had been attempting to win the journalists' freedom but did not repeal the ban. French Muslim leaders had joined government officials in condemning the kidnappings.
Sources credited the French Muslim community with helping to aid in the release arrangements.
France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, estimated at 5 million.
Shortly after returning to France, Malbrunot reignited a row over a failed bid in September by self-appointed mediators to secure the reporters' freedom, launching a fierce attack on those behind the venture.
"I am outraged by (their) behavior ... it was playing with the lives of their compatriots, which deserves nothing but contempt," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Didier Julia, the deputy at the center of the storm, faces expulsion from Chirac's ruling UMP party for his role in the affair. His emissary in the matter was Philippe Brett, a little- known businessman with a history of political dealings in France and Iraq.
edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/12/24/france.hostage/index.html
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December 24th, 2004 8:13 pm
Iraqi militants wanted Bush re-elected: French hostage
CBC News
PARIS - Iraqi militants wanted President George W. Bush re-elected in November because he would keep U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and that would boost the position of the insurgents, a French reporter says.
Georges Malbrunot, who was kidnapped by a militant group called the Islamic Army of Iraq on Aug. 20 and released Tuesday, based his comments on conversations with his captors.
"We want Bush because with him the American troops will stay in Iraq and that way we will be able to develop," one of his captors told him, Malbrunot wrote in the paper Le Figaro on Friday.
Malbrunot's story said the Islamic Army has 15,000 to 17,000 members, is highly organized and has identified four groups of enemies:
American and coalition soldiers.
Foreign collaborators, such as businessmen.
Iraqi police.
Spies.
Malbrunot, who works for Le Figaro, and fellow reporter Christian Chesnot who was captured at the same time, feared for their lives. They saw other hostages who were later executed.
But the two men said they were French reporters, and reminded the militants that "France was against the war. France has a tough position against the occupation...That allowed us to show we were not pro-American," he said on his return to Paris on Wednesday.
Malbrunot said in a radio interview that they were finding it hard to recover from four months in captivity, "But the life of a free man is far easier than that of a hostage."
www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/12/24/france-hostages041224.html
Freed journalist attacks failed mediation bid
Friday, December 24, 2004 Posted: 1646 GMT (0046 HKT)
Malbrunot, right, and Chesnot speak to reporters after arriving in Paris.
(CNN) -- A French journalist held hostage in Iraq for four months says his captors wanted U.S. President George W. Bush re-elected because it would help promote their cause.
Georges Malbrunot, who was released Tuesday along with fellow journalist Christian Chesnot, told CNN the Iraqi militants "need someone tough against them, it's like boxing."
Speaking by telephone from Vichy, France on Friday, Malbrunot quoted his captors as saying Bush's re-election "would improve our ability to fight."
"We vote for Bush because Bush help us a lot by intervening in Afghanistan. So, from that point we could spread all over the world and we are now in 60 countries," Malbrunot cited one of the militants as saying on October 15, two weeks before Bush defeated Democrat John Kerry.
Malbrunot, 41, quoted the same militant as saying: "Our main targets are Saudi Arabia and Egypt. And because of Bush, if he is re-elected, we are sure that American soldiers will remain in Iraq for years."
In a separate interview on RTL radio, Malbrunot said it would take time for them to recover from their ordeal.
"Sleeping, for example, is hard," he said. "But the life of a free man is far easier than that of a hostage," he added.
Le Figaro reporter Malbrunot and Chesnot, 37, who works for Radio France Internationale, were reported missing August 21 after they left Baghdad for Najaf.
An Iraqi insurgent group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said in a statement posted on Islamist Web sites Tuesday it released the pair for several reasons, including some French government positions on Iraq and appeals by Islamic groups for their freedom.
They returned to France late on Wednesday to a heroes' welcome from family, friends and politicians led by President Jacques Chirac. French government sources said the release was arranged through intermediaries, and no ransom was asked and none was paid.
The militant group had demanded the French government repeal a ban on the wearing of head scarves by Muslim girls in public schools.
The law, which also covers religious items such as yarmulkes and large crosses, took effect at the start of the school year.
The French government had been attempting to win the journalists' freedom but did not repeal the ban. French Muslim leaders had joined government officials in condemning the kidnappings.
Sources credited the French Muslim community with helping to aid in the release arrangements.
France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, estimated at 5 million.
Shortly after returning to France, Malbrunot reignited a row over a failed bid in September by self-appointed mediators to secure the reporters' freedom, launching a fierce attack on those behind the venture.
"I am outraged by (their) behavior ... it was playing with the lives of their compatriots, which deserves nothing but contempt," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Didier Julia, the deputy at the center of the storm, faces expulsion from Chirac's ruling UMP party for his role in the affair. His emissary in the matter was Philippe Brett, a little- known businessman with a history of political dealings in France and Iraq.
edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/12/24/france.hostage/index.html
**************************************
December 24th, 2004 8:13 pm
Iraqi militants wanted Bush re-elected: French hostage
CBC News
PARIS - Iraqi militants wanted President George W. Bush re-elected in November because he would keep U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and that would boost the position of the insurgents, a French reporter says.
Georges Malbrunot, who was kidnapped by a militant group called the Islamic Army of Iraq on Aug. 20 and released Tuesday, based his comments on conversations with his captors.
"We want Bush because with him the American troops will stay in Iraq and that way we will be able to develop," one of his captors told him, Malbrunot wrote in the paper Le Figaro on Friday.
Malbrunot's story said the Islamic Army has 15,000 to 17,000 members, is highly organized and has identified four groups of enemies:
American and coalition soldiers.
Foreign collaborators, such as businessmen.
Iraqi police.
Spies.
Malbrunot, who works for Le Figaro, and fellow reporter Christian Chesnot who was captured at the same time, feared for their lives. They saw other hostages who were later executed.
But the two men said they were French reporters, and reminded the militants that "France was against the war. France has a tough position against the occupation...That allowed us to show we were not pro-American," he said on his return to Paris on Wednesday.
Malbrunot said in a radio interview that they were finding it hard to recover from four months in captivity, "But the life of a free man is far easier than that of a hostage."
www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/12/24/france-hostages041224.html
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