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.
Let's hope the French Terrorists in Iraq to be given a death penalty.
Maybe is wasn't oil and greed the French held so dear, Maybe it was Saddam after all! Maybe we should put them on the Axis of Evil where they belong.
LOL! everyone has their place in life!
Hang them now.
I'd rather see...
Americans shoot 3 French terrorists in Iraq.
If they go to France, there will be no justice.
France is part of the problem although that is something, which our government would never publicly admit.
Since before the war began the French national media (state sponsored and partially owned) has been attacking US policy and creating a "hostile" environment. They create sympathy for the jihadist. Arte, TV5 and many others have been constantly conducting Psychological Operations (offensive IO) with the "intent" to discredit US policy towards Iraq. The condemning aspect for the French government is that much of the French media is state run, as in Germany and many parts of Europe. If these media outlets conduct this type of activity then it's because their "national policy" is to have this message or agenda.
Red6
I mean the torture our guys are going through having to smell these frenchies!
And you believe there is a difference?
Hmmm, would these be Algerians with French citizenship per chance?
Old joke changed slightly.
The French are a funny race.
They fight with their feet. (run)
And (whine) with their face.
.
I agree!
"And you believe there is a difference?"
Yes I do. I have some French friends and they're not all bad. There's a a lot to like about some aspects of French culture and life. Not all of course, and plenty not to like also, but they are part of Western civilization as opposed to militant Islamofascism which I don't care for at all.
There are plenty of militant Islamofascists in France with French citizenship who are most likely the ones caught in Iraq etc. I don't consider them real Frenchmen. There are also French men and women who are not leftist cowards. Some even like America, liberty and believe in the superiority of Western civilization and culture.
Of course some French people are also jerks like some of our own leftist, treasonous, perfidious citizens.
In addition, there are things about American culture that are also less than perfection. Plenty of our culture is pretty trashy and low brow (not that I don't like some low brow trash myself sometimes).
But yes (or oui) I am pretty damn disappointed in the French lately. Merde!
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