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Posted on 02/04/2005 11:24:56 AM PST by areafiftyone
PARIS (Reuters) - France said Friday U.S. forces were holding three Frenchmen captured fighting with insurgents in Iraq (news - web sites) last November, handing Paris a diplomatic headache on the eve of a visit by the new U.S. secretary of state.
Paris is in touch with Baghdad about the fate of its three nationals, who were detained by a U.S. patrol during fighting in the city of Falluja 30 miles west of Baghdad, Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said.
"I can confirm that we are aware of the existence of these three people of French nationality who are being held in Iraq," Ladsous told a regular news briefing.
Details concerning the three were still sketchy but France would "exercise our rights in terms of consular protection for French nationals," Ladsous added.
That could signal an attempt by France to have the men face justice in France, but an Iraqi minister appeared to rule that out in an interview with France's Europe 1 radio station.
"Two of them have admitted they came to make Jihad (Islamic holy war or struggle) against the Americans ... They will be tried in Iraq," said Bakhtiar Amin, Iraq's human rights minister. "They are criminals and we are here to see justice is done."
He said there were up to a dozen French citizens fighting alongside the insurgents in Iraq.
U.S. military sources in Iraq said three French nationals were being held at Camp Bucca, a U.S. detention facility in southern Iraq. They said two had been detained during fighting in Falluja last November, but did not say when or where the third had been detained.
Le Figaro newspaper, which first reported the detentions, said the three were understood to have been recruited to fight in Iraq by a Paris-based Islamic network.
A police source late last month said a series of raids by the DST domestic intelligence agency had smashed the ring.
According to Le Figaro, Chekhou Diakhabi, Peter Cherif and a man who has not been formally identified, were part of a group that left Paris for Iraq last year.
NEW TEST FOR TRANSATLANTIC TIES
The report of the detentions coincides with efforts by Paris and Washington to improve relations after France's opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The Iraq war caused anger on both sides of the Atlantic but French President Jacques Chirac and President Bush (news - web sites) will seek to smooth over differences when they meet this month in Brussels. Chirac is also due to visit Washington soon.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), who meets Chirac in Paris Tuesday, can expect to face questions from French officials about the three men held in Iraq.
Paris is also seeking the release of three French nationals held in the Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison. Four others were freed last year from the prison in Cuba, but were detained on arrival back in France under a domestic terrorism probe.
The French nationals enlisted to fight in Iraq could be linked to a mosque in the 19th arrondissement in northern Paris, the focus of a DST operation last month.
The DST established last year that at least three French nationals had been killed in Iraq.
Anti-terrorism judges last week charged three suspects with criminal association related to a terrorist enterprise. The trio was remanded in custody pending further investigation.
Americans Hold 3 French Fighters Terrorists in Iraq
Send 'em to Gitmo! Connaissez-vous Cuba?
The French know how to fight?
"Two of them have admitted they came to make Jihad (Islamic holy war or struggle) against the Americans ... They will be tried in Iraq," said Bakhtiar Amin, Iraq's human rights minister. "They are criminals and we are here to see justice is done."
Woo-hoo!
French Fighters? isn't that an Oxymoron?
"French" and "Fighters" do not belong together in the same sentence. They are terrorists....and FRENCH.
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So the French did send troops.
Headline should read, " Americans Bury 3 French Fighters in Iraq"
LOL!!!
French Foreign Legionaires?
Me too Woo Hoo!!!! Gotta love that Iraqi minister. Take that you French toads!!!
Ah, the smell of barbequed Islamist Frogs in the morning, smells like, like, victory.
They should turn them over to the villagers who killed and burned the eight terrs who threatened the village for voting.
For sale: French rifle. Never fired. Dropped once.
Of Algerian origin, most likely. The new France.
......an attempt by France to have the men face justice in France
Fhagetaboutit, Frogs. These criminals will be tried in Iraq, by Iraqis.
Well they aren't exactly French. If they were recruited in a mosque in Paris they are likely Muslim immigrants from Northern Africa, or the sons of immigrants. So I think our "shields down" posture towards French martial ardor is still appropriate.
I hope John Kerry has been told that the French had people there also. I won't call them fighters though. Maybe water boys!
"The French know how to fight?" Obviously not well. We have them don't we? Oh and I guess the French are up to their old tricks. They are to yellow to fight to the death.
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