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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Hostage talks of Planet bin Laden |
| 2004-12-23 |
| ONE of two French journalists freed after a four-month hostage ordeal in Iraq has described their captivity as being "immersed in Planet (Osama) bin Laden". Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot had spent their first day back in France recounting details of their ordeal to the foreign intelligence agency, DGSE. "One of the lessons we drew from our captivity was that we were immersed in Planet Bin Laden, especially when we were in a cell of the Islamic Army in the north" of Iraq, Mr Malbrunot told France 2 public television. "We really understood that these kidnappers were driven not by an Iraqi agenda, but by an agenda of Islamic holy war." Mr Malbrunot also issued a stern warning to fellow journalists about the dangers of working in Iraq. "We urge them to be very careful. Our kidnappers told us: Do not come back to Iraq, this is a land of war and we do not need you here. We want to settle our scores with the Americans." "The country is crawling with armed men who are out fishing for Westerners." In an interview with France Info radio, Mr Chesnot said "Iraq is a land at war and any foreigner can be seen as a spy". The two men were flown from Baghdad to Paris yesterday, when they were greeted by President Jacques Chirac and reunited with their loved ones amid a national outpouring of joy and relief. But the happy end to their ordeal was partly overshadowed by a row over an abortive attempt by a French deputy, Didier Julia of Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), to negotiate their release. A senior member of the DGSE told Le Figaro newspaper — for which Malbrunot works — that Mr Julia's intervention in September had gravely compromised official efforts to contact the Islamic Army in Iraq. "The hostage-takers followed the Julia epic on television and obviously they accused us of trying to short-circuit them with a separate team," the unnamed official said. "Suddenly we were in a void, confronted by silence." Mr Malbrunot said he was "scandalised by (Julia's) behaviour — playing with the lives of two compatriots. It is beneath contempt." Mr Julia reacted furiously to the criticism. He accused Foreign Minister Michel Barnier of being "completely useless" and claiming to have documents that showed his mission was undertaken in good faith. Meanwhile, the circumstances leading to the men's liberation remained obscure. Government ministers maintain that no ransom was paid to the hostage-takers, nor had any other condition been met. Several commentators expressed their doubts over this today, while conceding that some quid pro quo may have been unavoidable. "There is no reason to take either the hostage-takers or the Government at their word," the left-wing Liberation newspaper reported. According to other comment, the release of Mrs Malbrunot and Chesnot could have a liberating effect on French policy in the Middle East, which had been conditioned for four months by the need not to complicate negotiations with the extremist captors. "The detention of the two Frenchmen... certainly meant diplomats had to walk on egg-shells and avoid any initiative that could be misinterpreted by any of the parties concerned," Le Figaro reported. A Defence Ministry spokesman said that a team of 100 DGSE operatives had been mobilised since the start of the crisis, and the operation to free the men had been extremely dangerous. |
| Posted by:tipper |