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French Chatter, Chinese Proverb, Sid: What do the French think about Iraqi hostage taking?
The Weekly Standard ^ | January 17, 2005 | The Scrapbook

Posted on 01/08/2005 9:00:31 PM PST by quidnunc

Cartesian Ethics

On December 22, in an evening sleet storm at Villacoublay air base west of Paris, two French journalists, Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro and Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale, were finally reunited with their families after spending 124 days as kidnapped hostages of an Iraqi jihadist group. Chesnot seemed especially shaken by the experience, during which at least three other people held hostage with him were beheaded. Chesnot said very little to the army of attending reporters, and he's had very little to say in public ever since.

Georges Malbrunot, on the other hand, has proved himself quite the chatterbox.

On the Villacoublay tarmac, for example, Malbrunot explained how the two men had sustained themselves through four straight months of mortal fear by remaining "humble." And "Cartesian." And ostentatiously French. During their very first interrogation, Malbrunot remembered, he and Chesnot "immediately played the 'French journalist card,' while insisting on the fact that France is against the war." Then, "we told them that we'd understood them to be a 'resistance' from the moment there was an illegal occupation" of Iraq. Or, put another way, "we gave them pledges to demonstrate that we weren't pro-American." It was only privately, "to myself," that Malbrunot found himself fondly daydreaming about the United States Marines: "If only an American patrol would come through, take out this lovely bunch, and set us free."

Not French enough for you? Okay, then have a look at the following passage from an exclusive interview Malbrunot has now granted Nidra Poller in the January 3 edition of the New York Sun:

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: frenchhostages; iraq

1 posted on 01/08/2005 9:00:31 PM PST by quidnunc
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To: quidnunc


I'd play the French Journalist card too.


2 posted on 01/08/2005 9:04:39 PM PST by LauraleeBraswell (“"Hi, I'm Richard Gere and I'm speaking for the entire world.” -Richard Gere)
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To: quidnunc
'Here's an idea: How's about you come over here and explain that theory to Nick Berg's mom and dad, Frog boy?'


3 posted on 01/08/2005 9:09:47 PM PST by bitt
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To: quidnunc
"Malbrunot: Still it's all the more reprehensible when it hits people who have nothing to do with the war. Here's an idea: How's about you come over here and explain that theory to Nick Berg's mom and dad, Frog boy?"

Bahahahaha! I like this weekly Standard.

4 posted on 01/08/2005 9:13:06 PM PST by Earthdweller (US descendant of French Protestants)
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To: LauraleeBraswell
I hear you're 18!

That's stupendous. That means you can skip the whole liberal@20, conservative@40 brain-dead, heart-dead hyperbole.

You rock and welcome aboard, prov.!

5 posted on 01/08/2005 9:13:23 PM PST by txhurl
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To: quidnunc

It is very simple, first you colaborate with the Germans and pray the Americans will come. You can support both sides that way. It rubs off.


6 posted on 01/08/2005 9:14:06 PM PST by U S Army EOD (John Kerry, the mother of all flip floppers.I)
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To: LauraleeBraswell

Oh, and 'prov' = 'provacateur', just so ya know :)~!


7 posted on 01/08/2005 9:16:00 PM PST by txhurl
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To: LauraleeBraswell

I might play the card, too, if I thought it would keep me from getting killed, but I wouldn't come back after being released and still spout such crap.


8 posted on 01/08/2005 9:26:32 PM PST by Theresawithanh (2005! My resolution: FReep even MORE this year!!!)
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To: txflake

Provocateur?

Texans can speak French?


9 posted on 01/08/2005 10:04:31 PM PST by endthematrix (Declare 2005 as the year the battle for freedom from tax slavery!)
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To: endthematrix

We can spell 'jambalaya', to a one!


10 posted on 01/08/2005 10:15:51 PM PST by txhurl
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To: quidnunc

I think the French and Germans forget that their heads come off just as easily as American heads. I never thought I'd hear or read about a Frenchman daydreaming about a U.S. Marine coming to rescue him. Imagine that, a Frenchman hoping the U.S. Military would save his ass. Kinda reminds of World Wars I and II.


11 posted on 01/08/2005 10:15:58 PM PST by antiunion person (Everything I Say is Fully Substantiated by my Own Opinion)
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To: quidnunc

We don't call them cheese eating surrender monkey for nothing. While he privately wishes for American help, what a puke.


12 posted on 01/08/2005 10:58:31 PM PST by vpintheak (Liberal = The antithesis of Freedom and Patriotism)
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To: txflake
I did find it funny that you used a French word considering the article's topic.
13 posted on 01/08/2005 11:04:30 PM PST by endthematrix (Declare 2005 as the year the battle for freedom from tax slavery!)
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To: endthematrix

To be honest, most Texans skip right over the article (when French) and move right on to socializing.


14 posted on 01/08/2005 11:10:28 PM PST by txhurl (UN is toast)
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To: txflake

LOL!


15 posted on 01/08/2005 11:23:21 PM PST by endthematrix (Declare 2005 as the year the battle for freedom from tax slavery!)
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