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Europe
France, Despite Opposition to Iraq War, Is Not Immune
2004-08-31
France is seen by many Americans as a reluctant ally, at best, in President Bush's war on terror.
I favor "unindicted co-conspiritor", but that's just me.
But a new hostage crisis has made clear that the Gallic nation, with western Europe's largest Muslim population, is not immune to threats from radical Islam.
"Muslim population" and "threats from radical Islam" kinda go together, don't they?
As French diplomats scrambled to save two journalists held hostage in Iraq, the government defied captors' demands to scrap a new law banning Muslim head scarves in public schools. "The law will be applied" when school doors open on Thursday, government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said.
Good for the Frenchies...
Muslim leaders at home and abroad rallied around France with statements of support and calls on the Islamic Army of Iraq to release the journalists. Rebel Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's lieutenants added their voices Tuesday to the calls for the release of the newsmen, calling their abduction "inhumane and immoral."
"They're on our side! Back off!"
"Such acts defame Islam and Muslims in general," said Ali al-Yasiri, an al-Sadr representative in Baghdad. "To fight in a battlefield is OK, but to kill a civilian or journalist is blasphemy."
Then his lips fell off.
Posted by:Steve

#14  "The French (people) have discovered that having opposed the Iraq war does not make them immune from the wrath of Islamists..."

It may be a subtle distinction, but France's opposition to the war wasn't one of "We want to be a friend to Islam", but "This will make us look good to Islam".
Posted by: Pappy   2004-08-31 8:25:12 PM  

#13  Well one good thing about being the Great Satan is the Islamofascists expect this from the US, so we are sort of immune since they are figthing other Jihad wars against us.
Posted by: Bill Nelson   2004-08-31 2:22:48 PM  

#12  Didn't believe this BBC headline: French leaders pray for hostages -- until I read further below that "Top officials joined prayers for the men's safe release at the main Paris mosque... [including] Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin and Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe.... Muslim leaders in France condemned the kidnappings. "France is not a country that can be punished because of its attitude toward Islam - quite the contrary," Mr Boubakeur told the AFP news agency. Earth to the French: the jihadist will as gladly saw off your necks as
ours. Triangulate all you want, but you're in the crosshairs now, mes amis.
Posted by: lex   2004-08-31 2:21:04 PM  

#11  This might be controversial, and I don't really know which way it is but I sometimes wonder about what was going through these terrorists minds when they kidnapped those French journalistes. I wonder if maybe they're so ignorant that the actual low-level & mid-level guys don't even know that France opposed the war and is Islamic terrorism's best friend in the West. I wonder if maybe their so ignorant & uneducated that they're just thinking "Hey, there's a Westerner...GRAB HIM!" But the other way of looking at this is that they did know and the decision to kidnap these French was taken at higher levels, or at least by people who understand the strategic implications of such a move. If that's the case then they really do think of the French as equally worthless to Americans, Israelis, etc. Probably the latter is true, but it could be a combination of both, or it could be said that these instances sometimes fall into both categories. Like, for example, wasn't there a Cuban kidnapped in Iraq recently? And I've heard about Colombian guerrillas briefly kidnapping Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, French, Norwegians, etc. and they usually release them pretty quickly. So I think that the first scenario does happen, and that's humorous to me. I just picture a bunch of Islamic terrorists standing around on a dusty street corner and being like "Hey, Mohammed, check it out. It's a foriegner...let's get 'em." as opposed to some sophisticated operation where individuals are chosen specifically for their nationalities, identities, professions, etc. And then they're like "Boss, look what we got..." And the boss is like "You kidnapped an ally you idiots...I'm surrounded by idiots!"
Posted by: Kentucky Beef   2004-08-31 1:59:02 PM  

#10  BH - really good.
Posted by: Matt   2004-08-31 1:35:58 PM  

#9  ... and now they're really surprised to discover there's no word for "gratitude" in Arabic...

Even if there were, they wouldn't be able to translate it to French.
Posted by: BH   2004-08-31 1:19:49 PM  

#8  It also makes the argument moot that that "shitty little country" [Israel] is the source of all problems in the ME.
Posted by: Anonymous6225   2004-08-31 12:57:49 PM  

#7  Wonder how all this is going down with Pierre Sixpack?
Posted by: Lucky   2004-08-31 11:59:53 AM  

#6  The Fench cockold by their Arabs wives,
can it get any better . . .

maybe if they can get them to shave their underarms too . . . .
Posted by: Anonymous5994   2004-08-31 11:23:53 AM  

#5  Cox& Forkum 8/30/04 C'est l'appeasement I wonder if France understands that appeasement on the issue of head scarves won't make them immune to future blackmail or attacks. Non? Didn't think so.
Posted by: GK   2004-08-31 10:56:59 AM  

#4  Belmont Club refers to the kidnapping as a "red on red" incident.
Posted by: Matt   2004-08-31 10:50:36 AM  

#3  France, Despite Opposition to Iraq War, Is Not Immune

I forgot where I read or heard this, but it was said that on the subject of French nationals being kidnapped and ransom demands made, French officials made it a point to stress that they opposed the war. Haaahahahahaaahahahaaa.

Whole lotta good that did you, eh Jacques? Swallow your medicine like a man, you little weenie.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-08-31 10:35:12 AM  

#2  10 to 1 there is a deal of some kind in the works. No one is better at the baksheesh, slippery finger dangledop and other nefarious means of hypocrisy and face saving than the french.
Posted by: Jack is Back   2004-08-31 10:34:05 AM  

#1  "The French (people) have discovered that having opposed the Iraq war does not make them immune from the wrath of Islamists..."

This is the slow class, right?
Posted by: Matt   2004-08-31 10:18:46 AM  

00:00