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Europe
France Hopes Stance Aids Captives in Iraq
2004-09-07
Some headlines just write themselves ...
PARIS -- As France awaits word on two journalists being held hostage in Iraq, officials have made it clear that they expect to benefit from their stand against the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. "France has always pleaded for the sovereignty of this country and supported its people," Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said last week as the crisis unfolded.
"Look at how well we supported your former president!"
The safe return of the journalists, Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, would not only end a crisis that has gripped the country but would also ratify the value of French opposition to the Bush administration's Iraq policy, political observers said. In lobbying for the captives' freedom, the observers said, France had gained support from governments in the Middle East, Muslim religious leaders and even the Hezbollah guerrilla group , which has used kidnappings in its fight against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon.
An endorsement from Hezbollah? Boy howdy, those French diplomats are expert, expert I tell you.
"The French diplomatic effort has been impressive. If the hostages are released, it is a plus for French prostitution foreign policy," said Guillaume Parmentier, a political analyst and expert on U.S.-French relations. Dominique Moisi, a foreign affairs expert, said that "France's ability to mobilize friends is outside recognition" of the French policy. "The basis of the policy is that France fights terrorism as much as anyone, it's just that going into Iraq and wrecking all our business deals was not the best way," Moisi said.
Posted by:Steve White

#9  Oh, yeah. One more thing. I think the WaPo guy did just a great job in presenting the other side of the story, like, you know, maybe the kidnappers don't care too much if the captives are French or not. Also loved the part where the French were ticked off that our guys were mucking things up by taking on the Fallujah mafia.
Posted by: chicago mike   2004-09-07 11:01:58 AM  

#8  Very perceptive, Sock. Many comments on the Liberation reader forum recalled how the Filipino was released for $6 mil and who remembers that now? So two for a total of $5 mil? C'est tout? Better bargain than the OJ at my supermarket.

Two remarks: 1) I've been away since Thursday, but had seen where the "handover" to the more "moderate" Islamic group had taken place. Thought for sure then that the journos would be back in Paris by the weekend. I guess not. Un peu trop complique. But I thought the French were so good at nuance. Guess not.
2) I just cannot fathom the "gall" of these Frenchy intellectuals with their presumption that they have shown the world how much their opposition to the Cowboy has somehow put them into a different category. French diplomacy has mobilized al-Qadraoui, al-Tantawi, Hezbollah. What great friends to have when you need to pay off a ransom!
Posted by: chicago mike   2004-09-07 10:56:38 AM  

#7  You never see Iranian and Syrian journalists held for very long and certainly not for very long. Must be the fact that those countries have very effective terrorist fighting programs as well. I bet Syria and Iran can expect regular help from Hezbolah, Hammas and the Association of Sadaamist Muslim Scholars as well.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-09-07 7:38:40 AM  

#6  France will cough up the ransom, and be shocked when this same thing happens again.
You learn this in any schoolyard, give a bully your lunch money, and he will come looking for more no question.
The French never cease to amaze me. In a bad way.
Posted by: JerseyMike   2004-09-07 7:30:01 AM  

#5  It will be interesting to see how they spin being the 1st or second (Spain?) country to declare a truce with Bin Laden.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-09-07 3:23:03 AM  

#4  France will quietly pay 5 mill and get it's dip shit reporters back and claim it hasn't paid any ransom.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-09-07 2:01:13 AM  

#3  The planet less two Gaulies....
Like Lawyer's, it's a start...
Maybe the Islamonazi's will do something special to the Gaul's, like doing a chainsaw from the top of their heads all the way through the family jewels!! Something creative just to get the worlds attention because they are "French".

BTW - Are the Gauls not do for a drop in population?

Posted by: Long Hair Republican   2004-09-07 1:59:20 AM  

#2  It's rather fun to consider that Iraq is now, and will be in the future, more significant in world affairs than France. Nothing more need be said to repay them their perfidy and efforts to finish off whatever relevancy the UN stil had. They succeeded and, thus, consigned their last stage and venue of obstructionism to the scrap heap of history.
Posted by: .com   2004-09-07 1:25:59 AM  

#1  Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.

France: Cut them loose and let them sink. Cut all aid, minimal diplomatic ties. Toss 'em out od NATO altogether. Kick Dominique's dog, if you can find the mutt...
Posted by: mojo   2004-09-07 1:21:00 AM  

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