Back Home, Ex-Hostages Recall Hopes and Fears

Two French journalists released by militants in Iraq returned to a jubilant France on Wednesday and described a four-month ordeal during which masked gunmen shuttled them among five hide-outs and interrogated them at length as combat thundered nearby.

During a brief news conference at an air base near Paris, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot said their captors generally treated them well, though the two had periods of fear and uncertainty.

Like the French government, the two journalists said they were caught off-guard by their release Tuesday, which came after the militants transported them to a hastily arranged rendezvous in Baghdad with French intelligence agents.

“It was a bit unexpected,” said Malbrunot, 41. “Because we had thought it would be a somewhat more organized release. A liberation is always a priori difficult.... When I got out of the trunk of a Mercedes and saw the French flag three yards away from me, I thought, it seems like the end.”

Cleanshaven and smiling wearily, Chesnot and Malbrunot descended from a French military intelligence plane and were embraced by their mothers and other tearful relatives on a rainy runway at the Villacoublay military air base outside Paris.

A beaming President Jacques Chirac was on hand to celebrate the still-mysterious ending of a drama that strained France’s relationship with Baghdad’s pro-U.S. government and shattered illusions that the French were shielded from anti-Western violence in Iraq.

The accounts of the former hostages and Chirac’s government did not answer some lingering questions that distinguish this case from most of the high-profile abductions of foreigners in Iraq.

Although most kidnappings have ended within weeks with the release or slaying of hostages, the journalists’ captivity lasted four months. The captors made a single, and unusual, public demand: that France drop a law banning religious symbols such as Islamic head scarves in public schools. Most other militants have focused their demands on Iraqi issues, threatening to kill hostages unless companies or countries pulled out of the Persian Gulf nation.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and other ministers said Wednesday that, contrary to widespread speculation, no ransom was paid for the release of Malbrunot, a correspondent for Le Figaro newspaper, and Chesnot, 37, a reporter for Radio France International.

After Raffarin briefed legislators Wednesday morning, Francois Bayrou, a leader of the ruling center-right coalition, hinted that aspects of the resolution had not been made public.

“I make a distinction between what a prime minister can say and what he is required to keep discreet or secret,” Bayrou said.

But in an interview Wednesday evening, Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said that the government did not provide money or other compensation to the captors, who belong to a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq. And, she told the France 2 TV channel, authorities were still trying to figure out the reason for the release.

The arduous communications were conducted through four networks of intermediaries, never directly with the captors, Alliot-Marie said. The liberation came abruptly after intermediaries had received encouraging signs, she said.

After France refused in September to rescind its recently adopted head-scarf ban, the militants made no further demands, she said.

“They never asked for a ransom,” the defense minister said. “That’s why we were a bit concerned. There weren’t any other demands.”

The fact that Malbrunot and Chesnot were from a country that led opposition to the invasion of Iraq seemed to have helped their cause. The pair had covered the Mideast for years. They used their knowledge of Arabic language and culture to try to win over the militants.

“We quickly played the card of being French journalists,” Malbrunot said. “France doesn’t have troops, doesn’t have entrepreneurs in Iraq. France was against the war. France has a rather tough position against the occupation.”

In a communique Tuesday, the Islamic Army in Iraq cited France’s Middle East policies as a reason for the release. But that did not explain why the captivity lasted so long or ended when and how it did.

Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Wednesday that the nature of the Islamic Army in Iraq, a shadowy alliance of Islamic extremists and nationalists, including security forces from the former regime of Saddam Hussein, slowed communications because the group engaged in lengthy internal debates. During a TV interview, Barnier also criticized Didier Julia, a maverick French congressional deputy, saying he had disrupted official contacts with the kidnappers at a crucial stage in late September.

The hostages’ accounts Wednesday supported Barnier’s view that Julia caused a dangerous interruption when he flew to Syria and announced that his longtime Arab contacts were on the verge of winning the release of the journalists. Some French officials and experts have suggested that Syrian intelligence agents may have manipulated Julia to complicate the hostage issue and retaliate against France, which has worked closely with the United States to rein in Syria’s influence in Lebanon.

Malbrunot and Chesnot said Julia’s high-profile expedition caused one of the worst periods of their captivity. A grim-faced militant chief told them that communications with the French government had broken down, said Chesnot, who was more hesitant in his statements than Malbrunot.

“He explained to us that our situation was critical,” Chesnot recalled. “The French have gotten stubborn ... and that our lives were now in danger. That was kind of tough after a month, a month and a half, when we were generally with an outlook of liberation, of negotiations. It was tough to handle for about a week.”

The most traumatic experiences came during and immediately after the abduction Aug. 20 near the Iraqi town of Latifiya. Chesnot said they were held for the first two weeks in harsh conditions at a farm that apparently served as a clearinghouse for newly captured hostages. The captives there included fellow journalist Enzo Baldoni, an Italian who was slain days later by his captors in Iraq.

After the Frenchmen were moved to quarters closer to Baghdad, treatment improved, they said. The captors provided amenities such as showers and shampoo, and the two said they tried to stay patient and philosophical, with a nod to the serene rationality of a revered French thinker, Rene Descartes.

“You just have to tell yourself that every day that passes brings you closer to the end,” Malbrunot said. “You have to be very Cartesian.”