French Reporter Kidnapped by Resistance 4 Months Says Bush Brought Al Qaeda To Iraq

[Mcluhan]

French reporter Christian Chesnot of Radio France, kidnapped - along with reporter Georges Malbrunot of the Daily Figaro - by the Iraqi resistance. They were held for four months, from August to December 21st 2004.

Iraq is the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist today. At least 22 journalists were kidnapped by rebel forces in 2004. Two of them were Christian Chesnot, a reporter for Radio France, and Georges Malbrunot from the daily Le Figaro.
The two men were captured along with their translator, Mohammed Al Jundi, in August of 2004 and released four months later on December 21. They were held in five different locations in Iraq and often feared for their lives. Their kidnappers announced an ultimatum calling for the French government to repeal the law forbidding girls from wearing the Muslim head scarf at school. When Chesnot and Malbrunot were finally turned over to French Intelligence, the Islamic Army of Iraq said they decided to release the reporters because they saw France as their ally in opposing the occupation.

The same group kidnapped and executed Italian freelance journalist Enzo Baldoni after Italy refused to withdraw its 3,000 troops from Iraq. I spoke with Christian Chesnot in Italy last weekend. He attended the Conference to talk about the case of French journalist Florence Aubenas who was kidnapped with her translator and is still being held after five months of captivity.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about who your kidnappers were?

CHRISTIAN CHESNOT: It was a mix. A mix of people of the ex-army of Saddam Hussein, of the ex-regime, people from the secret intelligence, from the republican army, republican guard and they are the leader of the group and there was also Islamist people and also some people, a few of them were belonging to the bin Laden group, al-Qaeda, maybe some of them. And some foreigners, so it is a mixture of nationalist people belonging to the old regime, intelligence service, army, all the security apparatus of Saddam. So these guy have -- they have money, they have weapons, they have experience, plus Islamists, because now it is not very interesting for them to fight with the flag of the Baath and Saddam. So all these guy are fighting with the flag of Islam and the independence of Iraq. And plus Islamist and bin Laden people, very few.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean by bin Laden people, since I thought Saddam Hussein and bin Laden were enemies?

CHRISTIAN CHESNOT: I mean, because – it’s a very curious thing, because during the Saddam’s time, there was no terrorist group in Iraq. Bin Laden was not in Iraq. But after the fall of the regime, the border were all open. So, you know, hundreds, maybe thousands of foreigner of people coming from everywhere from Yemen, from Saudi, from Iran, from all around, entered Iraq with sometime bad intentions, and maybe some people of bin Laden came in all this chaos. And so the American, you know, policy in Iraq has create bin Laden in Iraq, which was not the case before. And so we know for sure there was some bin Laden people, because in our case one of the hijackers said to us I am a fighter of the jihad of the Islam. I was trained in Afghanistan with Osama, with Cher Osama, you know. He don’t say bin Laden, he say Cher Osama, which is honorable, you know, title for the [inaudible]. He said I have fought also in Bosnia, and so I know -- I can manage all the weapons, even chemicals, and so the Iraq is the starting point from the Islamic revolution in the world. So for us it is a new base. And he say, thank you, Mr. Bush, because you tried to kill us in Afghanistan and now we're everywhere. And he said, also in 60 countries. Maybe it's wrong. But he said, now we're in a state of confrontation.

And at this time it was very, not funny, but amazing because it was at the time of the election, American election, where there was John Kerry and George Bush, you know, competing in the U.S. election. And I said to him, maybe you will vote to Kerry because he wants a withdrawal of the U.S. troops in Iraq. He said not at all. We want George Bush. I vote George Bush because with him it will be more confrontation, more violence and after one year, two years, we will be more stronger because we will be more experienced in the fighting against the Americans. So, you know, it is a kind of very deadly game between this guy, the extremist or terrorist, as they call them in America, and George Bush putting, you know, fire and – you know, oil on the fire. And so, this very, I think, dangerous and very gloomy for the future. Because now we are really in a kind of clash of civilization.

read the rest of the transcript here

 

[Mcluhan]

more..

another snip~

AMY GOODMAN: So as you watch the news now, now you're back in France, what is your assessment of what is taking place?

CHRISTIAN CHESNOT: My assessment is very gloomy, because I think that the situation in Iraq is chaotic, will become more violent. The violence will continue because you have a climate of revenge, of violence and there is no political -- the political solution is not there. And especially I think now, the Iraqis are paying the price of the American mistake from the beginning because they -- the Americans, they opened the borders, they dissolve the army, they dissolved the Baath party, all these things, and so, and all of these guys, you know, the border, you know, with the border open, all the extremists, the radicals could enter in Iraq and all of the people of the army, which was not all bad, you know, it’s not all with Saddam, you know, maybe 80% of the army could have been recycled, you know, and on the police, on the secret service, but on the contrary all of these guy are now in the resistance. This why we discovered them. They were officer in the army or in the secret service, and now they have the gun, they have the money, so I think they're paying the price of the mistake. And now I don't see, you know, positive things in the next, you know, few months.

So the only solution and the Americans are starting to think about it, is to include the Sunni community. But not just the Sunni community, the people of the army, of the ex-secret intelligence, all of these guy, you know, that could be very fruitful for the stability of Iraq. But you have to recognize your mistake and the problem is not the Shia and the Kurd. People are on the top of the state, so maybe for the government, they don't want these guy coming back, not to power, but to the state, you know, it's not a question of power. But if you say one side of the country, “You are criminals, you are terrorists,” how can you build a new country and especially unify Iraq? So I think we are now in the slope of [unintelligible]. It means you have three big regions. You know, the Shia in the south, the Kurd in the north, the Sunni in the west, Baghdad in the middle, and you have a very weak central state and the periphery is starting to enjoy autonomy, and so the chaos will continue. So especially when you look at the election, which was an achievement in itself, because for the first time the Iraqis could vote, you know, but when you read, politically, the election, it is also the beginning of the [inaudible], because the Shia votes for the Shia, the Kurds vote for the Kurds, and the Sunni, they don't vote. So you are basically making a sort of communitarization of the country, and so I think for the future it will be, I think, a disaster.

 

[scouser1]

well having been initially opposed to the invasion in Iraq but whats done is done, I gotta take exception with the comments there was no terrorist group in Iraq during Saddam's reign ahhh yes there was it was called the Baath Party, just ask the Kurds who had their infants gassed and Shiites who were slaughtered by the thousands yes yes I know at the instance of the US promising to help them during the uprising of 1991.