Georges Malbrunot, one of the French journalists abducted then released by the friendlly folk of the Islamic Army of Iraq, shares his thoughts on being bulletproof:
'IF I HAD BEEN BRITISH, I'D BE DEAD'
'On Planet Bin Laden, they look first at your nationality. Had we been British - or from another coalition country - we would have been decapitated within days.'Knowing the way the British authorities abandon their subjects when they are in trouble abroad, we were fortunate. We never doubted that everything was being done, albeit in secret, to secure our release.
'It is moving to realise the extent to which the whole of France, its government, its Muslims, and probably many influential people in the Arab world rallied to our cause.'
Malbrunot believes French official claims that no ransom was paid. 'On 18 September we begged to be told why we were being held for so long. They said an intermediary had offered $1 million for our release, but they were not interested in money. They wanted high-level contacts with the French government.'
We pause to consider M. Malbrunot's good fortune. (Pause.) We do not begrudge M. Malbrunot his head, but is it a good thing in the life of his nation to have terrorists introduced to the highest echelons of her government? M. Malbrunot might also consider that his case received extraordinary attention from his government because it was perceived as a test of the success of M. Chirac's self-celebrated Iraq policy. Other French -- Messrs. Jean-Paul Kauffmann (held in Beirut for three years and released) and Michel Seurat (held in Beirut for a year, died due to lack of medical care) -- in less publicity-useful venues did not fare as well.
Perhaps it is unfair to ask M. Malbrunot to share our views. He is back in France, happy and safe, with every reason to be grateful. Pace.
M. Malbrunot goes on to give this thumbnail of his captors:
'We had no knowledge of the Islamic Army before they captured us. But we developed a picture of an organisation with money, contacts in Europe and a double agenda - to fight the occupation and wage a jihad as preached by Bin Laden. They were well-equipped, convinced that the West is waging war against the Muslim faith, and would boast of their offensives against the Americans.'
These folk have no doubt been added to the Quai d'Orsay Christmas card list. France no longer resists collusion with the likes of the Islamic Army of Iraq. It is fair to say that she sees such groups as realities with which she must deal -- by appeasement, by collusion, by anything that spares her a public climbdown or the appearance of impuissance.
Martin Kramer (link above) in reviewing books on the 1985-1988 French Lebanese hostage crises neatly sums up the French position:
With bombs going off on the Champs-Élysées and the Boulevard Saint-Michel, French officials concluded that victorious war could not be waged against terrorism, at least not by France. Moral posturing might suit the Americans, but the preservation of the very rhythm of life in France depended upon some compromise with the sponsors of terror. And did not France have a moral duty to negotiate for its citizens, held against their will simply because they were Frenchmen? In one of the more striking examples of Franco-American cultural divergence, the French public supported precisely the kind of dealing for hostages which absolutely scandalized the American public.
[All emphases added.]
This story really does say it all about the cultural differences between our nations. Also note the word "subjects", a word that no American would ever use to describe himself.
