Posted on 09/06/2004 6:56:27 PM PDT by Pikamax
Iraqi militants demand $5m for release of French journalists
Luke Harding in Baghdad and Jon Henley in Paris Tuesday September 7, 2004 The Guardian
The militant Iraqi group holding two French journalists hostage last night demanded a $5m (£2.8m) ransom for their release and set a 48-hour deadline for the request to be met. In a statement that could not be authenticated, the Islamic Army of Iraq suggested that it had been prepared to free the two men earlier but had abandoned the plan after a major military operation in Latifiya, south of Baghdad, at the weekend. "We warn you not to bombard us as you did ... on the day when we intended to deliver them [the hostages] to you," the statement, posted on a radical Islamist website, said.
The message appears to be the first confirmation for more than a week that Georges Malbrunot, 41, who works for Le Figaro, and Christian Chesnot, 37, of Radio France International, are still alive.
The news came after several days of uncertainty during which the French government and various Muslim negotiators had repeatedly indicated that the signs were positive for the men's release, but the details of the handover were proving hard to finalise.
The French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said the statement was being taken seriously. "We are trying to check its authenticity, which is not established at this time," he said. Mr Raffarin told RTL radio the situation was "worrying", but added: "Nothing is calling into question the confidence we have in a favourable outcome of the situation."
As well as setting the ransom, the kidnappers called for a truce with Osama bin Laden and demanded a promise of no military and commercial dealings with Iraq - demands that appeared to be directed at France.
They would release the men if only one of their demands was met, they added.
The French government now faces the dilemma of whether to pay the ransom, after the apparent failure of its earlier diplomatic efforts.
The kidnappers appear to have been rattled by a huge raid last weekend by Iraqi police and US troops in Latifiya, the rural Sunni town 40 miles south of Baghdad where the journalists were almost certainly seized last month while travelling to Najaf. More than 500 suspects from Latifiya were rounded up in a seven-hour operation.
After taking the men hostage, the kidnappers at first said they were giving France 48 hours to revoke a controversial law banning all conspicuous symbols of religious faith, including Islamic headscarves, from state schools. Paris refused, and the law came into effect last Thursday.
The kidnappings stunned France, which was strongly opposed to the war in Iraq and is seen as one of the west's most pro-Arab countries.
An impressive diplomatic offensive by Paris has since resulted in expressions of support from numerous Arab countries and several Islamist groups.
Yesterday's ransom demand came as a car bomb exploded just north of Falluja, killing seven US marines and wounding several others, in the deadliest attack on the US military in Iraq since May.
The blast, nine miles from the Sunni town, destroyed two Humvees, witnesses said. Medical teams in helicopters carried away the injured, and troops sealed off the area.
Four Iraqis were wounded when US troops opened fire afterwards, Ahmed Bassem of the Falluja general hospital told the Associated Press.
US forces have not patrolled inside Falluja since April, when they withdrew after a three-week siege. Since then the town and neighbouring Ramadi have come under the control of the Sunni resistance.
Yesterday, meanwhile, another militant group released a Turkish driver it had taken hostage. He was freed after the company he worked for said it was withdrawing from Iraq.
Wait 'til the next markdown...
want these guys to get home safe. what in the heck are they doing in the first place? anti-american coverage?
Nothing more than common thugs.
I think the terrorists are enjoying the importance France has given them.
France's opposition to us was based on corrupt dealings with Saddam, but the level to which they opposed us was in attempts to rival us as a power. They failed and in so doing have become less of a world power than a few murderers lining the Arab street.
It's not about the money, it's about the principal of the thing.
You know your foreign policy is weak when the terrorist start giving your government multiple choice demands.
The Frogs will hold out for $3.5M.
What the ZELL are any French doing in any where a combat zone. Handing out white flags? Screw the Frogs and their lousy whine. Besides, if the YellowStripes paid the ransom, it'd totally bankrupt their economy (that's not saying much, I know).
>> Iraqi militants demand $5m for release of French journalists.
> Nothing more than common thugs.
That's one possibility.
Another is that the Iraqi dead-enders are running
out of funds. The capture of al Douri probably
seriously impaired the trickle-down.
bin Laden wants to negotiate?
Cutthroat cultists now want money?
Progress is being made.
$5 million is a good down payment, Frenchy. Wait til they get down to negotations.
i agree, leave em, they're french, what they now want our help????? after the humiliation they and other panzy countries tried to put us through?
The thing about French diplomacy is that it works without a net. When it fails, there is no fallback. My guess is they'll find some third party to pay the ransom and pretend they didn't cave.
LOL!!!!!
Hereby nominated for QOTD!!!
Now the craven Frogs are down to haggling with the terrorist kidnappers over the ransom price. Pathetic.
They want money this time? Are these a**holes the same ones perpetrating all the beheadings or are these another group? Well, with spineless Chirac in charge, he'll pay.
You know France will pay up. They've paid off muslim terrorists before. In the 70's France paid a yearly tribute to the Lebanese muslims so French citizens would never be kidnapped.
Now, the French will be prime targets for kidnappings everywhere...the French always pay.
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