French ex-hostage says Iraq kidnappers linked to Al Qaeda:
(Reuters)
30 December 2004:
DUBAI - A French hostage who was released last week after four months in Iraq said his kidnappers grouped militants linked to Al Qaeda and former members of ousted president Saddam Hussein’s ruling party.
Journalist Christian Chesnot told Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in an interview published on Thursday the men who were guarding him and fellow French journalist Georges Malbrunot included “fundamentalists” and former Baath officials.
The two were kidnapped by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq. They returned home on December 21.
“The group, as far as we understood, was made up of former Baathists, including the body guard of the personal secretary of Saddam Hussein,” Chesnot was quoted as saying.
“In addition, there are also youths who told us they had been trained in Afghanistan on making explosives and who referred to (Al Qaeda leader) Osama bin Laden as Sheikh Osama.”
Sunni Muslim militants such as the Islamic Army in Iraq have staged several suicide bombings in Iraq and taken many Westerners hostage. The most violent group has been that of Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi acknowledged by bin Laden as the network’s leader in Iraq.
The United States, whose army led the 2003 war that toppled Saddam, has repeatedly said ex-members of the largely secular Baath Party members were involved in the insurgency in Iraq and that they are working with militant groups -- their former foes.
Chesnot said their guards had told him that the Islamic Army in Iraq had between 15,000 to 17,000 fighters. “Where is the truth, where is the publicity, I don’t know,” he added.
Chesnot, 37, works for Radio France Internationale while Malbrunot, 41, is a Le Figaro reporter. They said they were not mistreated during their captivity.
Both journalists are Arabic speakers who have long worked in the Middle East. Last year, they published a book on Saddam’s rule entitled “L’Irak de Saddam Hussein: portrait total” (Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, A Complete Portrait).
The men were kidnapped along with their Syrian driver on Aug. 20 as they drove to Najaf from Baghdad. Their kidnappers demanded France repeal a ban on Muslim headscarves in state schools, but Paris rejected the demand.
Their captors have taken other Westerners hostage, including Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who was killed on Aug. 26.
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