"it eees becoz we ver French"

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'If I had been British, I'd be dead'
By Alex Duval Smith, The Guardian (Observer)

Mata Musing

Oh spare us this rot, please. The French journalists/hostages are taking the opportunity to slam the US and British, while holding their own nationalism up as superior diplomacy.

'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.'

(snip)

Malbrunot believes they weren't killed - as Ken Bigley and Margaret Hassan were - because they were French. '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,' he said.

"Abandon their subjects" my derriere. I have two points about such a demeaning statement by Malbrunot.

First, they sure speaketh of things of which they knoweth not. Blair and fellow Brits were indeed engaging in "negotiations" all along - underground, militarily and in the press.

But of course, how would the sequestered journalists know? The two lost half a year of their lives to terrorists. It was impossible to know of the British and world efforts for Margaret, and apparently the details of that news was not included in their catch-up education.

So how would they know that Margaret evoked more outpouring for mercy from Muslims worldwide then their own lives? Margaret was far more Iraqi than British, spending the majority of her adult life dedicated to humanitarian needs in a country she loved as her own. Unlike the two journalists, her plight showcased the cruelty of terrorists toward one of their own in the name of blind hatred for the West.

Yet these two journalists would be quick to believe that her British passport killed her, while their French passports "saved" them. Really? Was it their passports?

Which brings me to my second point. These journalists have the audacity to tout French acquiesence to terrorists as a badge of courage and a sign of superior morality.

Absolutely beyond their comprehension is the ugly reality:

Terrorists have no need to conquer France.
They already have.

They have no need to spill a Frenchman's blood to show the French that they are a force not to be crossed.

'We heard them interrogate an Iraqi hostage working on an electricity plant. They divide hostages into two categories - those who are to be executed and those worth entering into negotiations over. Our interrogator was known as Fatso; he introduced himself as the chief intelligence officer of the Islamic Army. He was a former intelligence agent for Saddam.

'Fatso's job was to grill us and put the evidence before a tribunal presided over by a sheikh. The tribunal apparently decided we were worth negotiating over, and on 2 September Christian and I were moved to a "better place" - a ground-floor room, about 45 minutes' drive from the farm.' The driver was released.

Apparently they do not know that their Syrian driver was not discovered until November, set free only by the dawn of the Falluja invasion by Marines and Iraqi army.

The journalists, thrilled at escaping death, find it acceptable to be held as pawns instead. They are little bothered that, as one of the "conquered", their immunity doesn't preclude terrorists randomly stealing months of their lives as easily as they steal life itself. In their case, it started as French domestic policy, but ended up as political blackmail.

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.'

Back to that... was it really your passports? In the end, did they just give up and let you go without getting something in return? Highly unlikely. If terrorists respected France, the journalists would have been released immediately upon confirming their media status, and not held up for auction.

The French need to stop the dangerous spin they weave for themselves and face the facts. Instead they should acknowledge their gov't most likely caved and granted the "high-level contact" without publicity or fanfare. And they should also keep a good look over their shoulders. They just may get nabbed again when terrorists need a little more influence.

Eventually they might get it. That terrorists are all about murder, ransom and blackmail and power. If their need is great enough to require death, even a French passport will not protect you.