Politicus: Messy French analysis of Iraq hostage crisis
John Vinocur , International Herald Tribune
We told them that we were French journalists, there to do our job, and particularly to show the realities of the resistance," Georges Malbrunot said, recounting his first contacts with the Islamic fundamentalists who held him hostage for four months in Iraq.
It sure didn't take the French journalists long to offer up their French passports, banking on their country's posturing that Muslim terrorists had no beef with them. Georges Malbrunot had 124 days after that to rethink that position.
And according to Mr. Vinocur's mesmerizing and intriguing article, he did just that.
Warning... having a dictionary browser open and handy when reading articles by this journalist might be in order. This man is no slouch in the control of language. But I assure you - his story and perspectives are worth any extended efforts you make.
Malbrunot now professes to react from a "Cartesian" plane when mulling over his time with the terrorists. Cartesian - my philosphy days are all but forgotten, but roughly a method of analyzing knowledge or theory that starts by throwing out the shaky or disputable facts, and building only on that which is solid.
Keeping that "undisputable facts" mentality in mind, think back to Malbrunot's now infamous comment that he realized he was "on planet Bin Laden".
His jailers' references to bin Laden were frequent, he (Malbrunot) said. A guard insisted to Malbrunot that it was the Christians who were waging war against the Muslims. "Our objective," the jailer went on, sketching a European map of the future that squares with Al Qaeda's notions, "is to overthrow all the Arab rulers, and to return to the caliphate [Islamic rule] from Andalusia [Spain] to the border with China."
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"For them," Malbrunot wrote of his captors, "France is the West; it's a global vision - it's the infidel West against the Muslim world."
France's highly publicized and arrogant promises for release of the journalists in merely days turned into months. With nothing else to do with his time while incarcerated by the terrorists, Malbrunot, aided by his philosphy, had no choice but to "get it".
Unshakeable Fact: His country lie in the path of the caliphate state. There was no doubt the terrorists sights are on the French as well as the American coalition, despite French self-proclaimed "solidarity" against an "illegal war".
While jailed, Malbrunot's captors sent a response to Barnier's (French gov't)attempts to negotiate, citing French history with Muslims as "filled with hate and blood". They scoffed at any bonding with the French, saying they had their own motives for staying out of the Iraqi war.
Philosophy students playing along? Let's drop another unshakeable fact into place. Not only is France in the way physically of the desired caliphate state, the Muslim terrorists don't like the French themselves either.
But it must be difficult being both Cartesian and so very French. Malbrunot admitted the unthinkable while recalling being transported from cell to cell, blindfolded in a "kind of cardboard coffin" in the back of a truck.
In describing that despair, Malbrunot made something of an admission. "One day," he said, "we had a blowout in the middle of a road. I said to myself, 'If only an American patrol would come through, take out this lovely bunch, and set us free."'
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But the Cartesian in him hadn't vanished for long. Malbrunot's next words: "That, however, could have been dangerous for us."
Malbrunot's practice of philosophy may still be skewed, for he missed these Unshakeable Facts: he was already in danger... and being French wasn't going to help one bit.
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