Day: September 8, 2004

The terrorist scum holding two French journalists are apparently claiming that they neither asked for a $5 million ransom nor set a 48-hour deadline.

An Internet statement purportedly from the Islamic Army in Iraq militant group holding Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot dismissed a statement that appeared on the Web on Monday in the name of the militants.

“There is absolutely no truth to the statement carried by the media on the Internet … comprising financial and other demands,” said the statement, posted on a Web site identified as belonging to the Islamic Army in Iraq.

Another statement on the same Web site said the group was warning “any party whatsoever from interfering” in the case of the French hostages, who were both seized on Aug. 20.

“The Islamic Army’s legal committee will announce its decision soon, God willing,” said the statement.

France, oblivious to the reality that is the global threat of Islamist terror, remains befuddled.

France was stunned by the kidnappings because it had opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq and has not sent troops to the country.

I’ve searched, but it seems there’s no truth that a new Maginot Line is being constructed. Apparently, even that would be taking too strong a stance.

Can we please stop referring to France as an ally? Two-plus centuries ago, fine. Since then, only at their need, not ours. Hell, they bailed out of the military side of NATO in the darkest hours of the Cold War.

Maggie Gallagher writes of a recent discussion she had with a Swiss mother, and the column takes a look at the opposing American and Euroweenie worldviews. (Hat tip to Blackfive)

“People hate you. Everyone hates you. The whole world hates you.” The pretty middle-aged woman, a Swiss mother and scholar, at the dinner table in Geneva earnestly wants to make that perfectly clear.

She isn’t angry with me. She thinks the American people are totally ignorant, misled by the media and a criminal president. She also thinks the United States invaded Afghanistan in order to grab an oil pipeline.

This is my test of whether conversation is possible. I can understand how Europeans can believe the war in Iraq was about oil. After all, European nations like France and Russia had been benefiting from sweetheart oil deals in Iraq for years. But Afghanistan?

Go give it a read. I found this snippet rather telling:

Does it sometimes take a war in order to achieve justice? Fifty-five percent of Americans strongly agree. Only 18 percent of Europeans do.

Trust me, I know how these “conversations” can go. Worse yet, my girlfriend’s Swiss brother-in-law drinks the Michael Moore brand of kool-ade.