French President Jacques Chirac dispatched his foreign minister to the Middle East yesterday in the face of a terrorist threat to two French citizens that Paris could not readily blame on American foreign policy.
"Surely, M. le President, there must be some way?"
"Alas, Jean-Pierre, I can find none!"
"Sacred blue!" |
Kidnappers holding two French journalists in Iraq have demanded that France drop a new law barring the wearing of head scarves by Muslim schoolgirls — who return to classes at state-run schools this week. They set a deadline of midnight tonight. While no specific death threat was made in the ultimatum from the "Islamic Army of Iraq" delivered over the weekend, the same group said last week it had killed Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni. "The lives of two Frenchmen, as well as the values of the republic" are at stake, Mr. Chirac said in a dramatic address yesterday before Foreign Minister Michel Barnier flew to Cairo in an effort to secure the release of the two journalists. "I solemnly demand their liberation," Mr. Chirac said of the two reporters, stressing that "France has always guaranteed religious freedom — the cement of the nation." Although the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin announced a "general mobilization at the highest level," its only options appeared to be diplomacy and the intervention of leaders of the Islamic community in France, which generally condemns the kidnappings.
One option would be for the Frenchies to politely ask the permission of Mr. Bush the Iraqi interim gummint to send the Foreign Legion to slaughter all the Islamists it can find in Fallujah. Once the body count reaches 1000 or the reporter is produced alive and unharmed, the Frenchies can depart, to the cheers of their countrymen and the admiration of that part of the world community that still retains testicles. The message sent would be that if one kidnaps French citizens, one can expect to have one's henchmen pulverized in a ratio of 1000:1. We can, of course, calculate the odds of the option being taken... |
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat joined those calling for the release of the journalists, describing Mr. Chirac as "a good friend of the Palestinian people."
| "Youse idiots! You're endangering the boodle!" |
French Islamic leaders yesterday issued a series of appeals to the "Islamic Army," an al Qaeda-linked group that has claimed responsibility for killing more than a dozen hostages. The two journalists — Christian Chesnot, a freelancer on assignment for Radio France International, and Georges Malbrunot of the Paris daily Le Figaro — were kidnapped nine days ago in Iraq. Late on Saturday, the Qatar-based television station Al Jazeera broadcast a tape showing the two hostages, one of whom said he was "well." |