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| Europe |
| France 'in contact' with captors |
| 2004-09-02 |
| Posted by:ed |
| #11 That's France for you. The only brave men left among them were eight years old on D-Day. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-09-02 11:38:24 PM |
| #10 The Aussie news has an article: Superspy takes Iraq mission Evidently, Chiraq has sent Major-General Philippe Rondot, 68, a veteran of clandestine hostage diplomacy, to negotiate. I am not familiar with him. Maybe he has a breifcase simular to Jame Baker's. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-09-02 11:36:46 PM |
| #9 Sounds like the French found a way to openly provide cash for the terrorists in Iraq. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-09-02 3:57:21 PM |
| #8 Latest report from Al-Beeb says the hostages are "alive and well": A French Muslim delegation trying to secure the release of the two French journalists held hostage in Iraq says it has had proof the men are alive. But the kidnappers, the Islamic Army, are said to be waiting for a response from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden on whether they should kill the two men. Great theater, huh folks? Lots of winners in this one. Hostage takers get heaps of cash and Arab street cred. Al-Jiz gets a big boost in the ratings. French politicos get to maintain their principled pose (no backpedalling on the scarf ban) despite their trousers being down around their ankles. Freed journalists get to do lucrative interviews and write books describing their kind treatment and solidarity with the cause. We even get this deus ex machina appearance by Osama Bin Laden. Of course the French taxpayer has to fund this performance. Though knowing the French, I'm sure they've got some kind of scheme to raid EU funds to cover it. (That's your money TGA!) Now I've got different ideas on a great outcome. A 2000lb bomb on the safe house would bring this circus to a crashing halt. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2004-09-02 3:47:45 PM |
| #7 Planet Dan-Yep. A parent, a teacher, a psychologist, just about everybody gets it, except a French politician. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-09-02 2:23:05 PM |
| #6 With all due respect to A-5089, I think the parsimonious description of these events would be: France is negotiating with terrorists, thus terrorists are being rewarded for engaging in terror Behavior that is rewarded is more likely to recur |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2004-09-02 2:16:39 PM |
| #5 Given all the points A5089 makes, I think the price on the heads of the French reporters is at least $25 million a piece. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2004-09-02 1:40:53 PM |
| #4 This is a great victory for the political arm of the islamofascists (forgive me, I'm in a dramatical mood :)). First, you have to understand this law is not an hijab ban per se, but a blanket law on "ostensible religous symbols", covering christians and jews as well (a law targeting the muslims alone was not PC, so the gvt hypocritally choose to broaden its scope, as secularism is at the heart of the french Republic's identity, and inaction was not acceptable by the people). Then, it will not be strictly enforced; this summer, the administration notified a discrete headgear such as a scarf (bandana) was acceptable, which is the compromise the UOIF (muslim brotherhood offshoot dominating the CFCM org set up to officially represent "french" islam) wanted. And anyway, the minister of education said yesterday that the heads of schools were responsible for enforcing the law (which is basically the pre-ban situation), w/o expelling the girls, and by "explaining" the law at least 1-2 weeks before any action is taken. Negociation must be emphasized, and just before school began, education representatives met with muslim authorities to discuss about muslim mediators between the gvt and the families. So, all this is a scam. But the gvt can be firm when needed: it asked the schoolmasters not to allow journalists to be present... This whole mess is a shame; France is groveling to free its captives. What a contrast with the italian gvt (which was criticized for its inaction)! The interior minister, well known in RB (De Villepin), has been publically praying along with the mayor of Paris (who spoke in arabic) and the families of the hostages at the grand mosque of Paris; the media are hysterically forcefeeding us the RoP, emphatically saying how much islam and France are friend; the fundies of the UOIF are having a PR fest, showing how nice and indispensable they are, and the CFCM is now at the center of the relationship between France and its muslim community, and between France and the muslim world (the CFCM has sent delegates in Bagdad to secure their release); the foreign minister is touring the ME, meeting with *religious* authorities as well, saying basically "France is on your side"; we're being supported by the hamas, hezbollah, Arafish, muslim brotherhood,... which is in itself a clear indication of how we stand... negociators from the iranian hostages-days are in Iraq, a ransom is quite probable. Is theses two clowns (who btw are arab apologists and paleostinian tools) are sparred, and I really think they will be, this will clearly indicates France is now officially considered by the islamofascists as a dhimmi country : "you don't kill a good dog, you only kick him from times to times", as I read elsewhere... |
| Posted by: Anonymous5089 2004-09-02 1:12:39 PM |
| #3 don't be so hard on France In the age of terror its harder to find someone to surrender to. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-09-02 1:08:59 PM |
| #2 They're still trying to figure out how to work the zipper |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2004-09-02 11:38:05 AM |
| #1 Are Chirac and his minions on their knees making sucking sounds yet? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-09-02 11:13:55 AM |