Free Republic

Italian journalist held hostage in Iraq Claire Cozens and agencies Tuesday August 24, 2004 Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who has been missing in Iraq since last week, has been kidnapped by militants, according to a video broadcast today on al-Jazeera television station. His driver was found dead at the weekend in Najaf and today an Islamist group said it had abducted an Italian in Iraq, giving Silvio Berlusconi 48 hours to announce it was pulling his troops out of the country.

French journalist George Malbrunot spent 124 days as a hostage of Islamic fundamentalists in Iraq. The experience nearly broke him, but it also offered him stunning insights into the way jihadist groups operate. He returned convinced of one thing: America's policy is doomed. Since his return to Paris on Dec. 22, Malbrunot has been the toast of the town, having private audiences with top political officials and sipping mixed drinks in the city's top locales. But, still, memories of his 124 hostage ordeal keep him awake at night. Zoom AP Since his return to Paris on Dec. 22, Malbrunot has...

PARIS - Two sons of la France profonde, in love with Arab culture and language, Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, venture onto the high roads of Occupied Iraq, are captured on August 20 by the resistance, endure four months of captivity, with in the words of Mr. Malbrunot, Cartesian serenity, are liberated on December 22, in time to spend Christmas with their families. The French reporters and their Syrian chauffeur-interpreter Mohamed Al Jundi were kidnapped and held for two weeks on the same farm near Latifiya where the Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was slaughtered August 26. Mr. Al Jundi, separated...