French Cabinet meets over hostages Hostages appeal for government to lift headscarf ban Tuesday, August 31, 2004 Posted: 8:44 AM EDT (1244 GMT) Veiled women shout slogans during a demonstration against the headscarf ban in Paris. Image: Refinance Rates Just Got Lower Lock in the lowest rates of the summer. Get up to 4 free refinance quotes. www.lowermybills.com RealEstate.com - Official Site Find a real estate agent, search online listings, request financing options and... www.realestate.com Reduce Your Credit Card Debt by 50% Lower your monthly payments with a low rate debt consolidation loan. www.lowermybills.com GetSmart - the smart loan choice Complete one short online form and receive up to three free quotes. GetSmart,... www.getsmart.com RELATED • Tension over France headscarf ban QUICKVOTE Should the French government revoke a law banning Muslim headscarves in public schools in an attempt to secure the release of hostages in Iraq? Yes No VIEW RESULTS SPECIAL REPORT • Inside Iraq • U.S. Reaction • Global Impact • CNN/Money: Rebuilding Iraq • War in Iraq • Special Report YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS France Iraq or Create your own Manage alerts | What is this? PARIS, France (CNN) -- French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has called his Cabinet into emergency session after a new video surfaced showing two kidnapped French journalists in Iraq appealing for the repeal of a ban on Muslim head scarves for girls in public schools. The French government has been working feverishly to win the release of the two -- taken hostage by a radical Islamic group in Iraq -- but has steadfastly said it will not repeal the controversial head scarf ban. As Raffarin met with his cabinet Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier was in Amman to meet with Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muashar. He also may meet with King Abdullah II. The meetings come after Barnier visited with Egyptian officials Monday in hopes of finding some way to secure the captives' freedom. In Russia, French President Jacques Chirac brought up the crisis in his discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera aired a videotaped statement late Monday from the two missing journalists -- Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot. "We ask the French government to show their good intentions towards the Arab and Islamic world and abolish the head scarf law, which is an unjust and unfair law," Chesnot said. "We ask the French people to demonstrate against this law and to ask the French government to reverse it before we pay our lives as a price for it. We don't have much time. It could be a matter of minutes." Chesnot and Malbrunot are being held by a group that calls itself the Islamic Army in Iraq. Al-Jazeera said the group is giving the French government an additional 24 hours to respond to its demand. On Saturday, the group had given the French government 48 hours to respond. "We call on every French person and every person who values life to demonstrate against the headscarf law," Malbrunot said. "Our lives are in danger, and I appeal to President Chirac to do something and abolish this law." But a government spokesman has said France will not give in to calls to stay the ban on head scarves. "The law will be applied," spokesman Jean-Francois Cope told Canal Plus television Monday. The law that the Iraqi group opposes bans not only Muslim head scarves, but other religious symbols from public schools, including Jewish skullcaps and large crosses. The measure goes into effect this week at the start of the new school year. Chesnot, a reporter for Radio France International, and Malbruno, of the French paper Le Figaro, were reported missing August 21 after leaving for Najaf from Baghdad. Al-Jazeera reported the men were captives of the same group that claimed to have kidnapped an Italian journalist and killed him after Italy refused to withdraw its troops from Iraq. The kidnappings have brought together all sides in the head scarf debate. French Muslim leaders have joined French government officials in condemning the kidnappings. French officials had felt that French citizens were largely immune because of France's strong opposition to the war in Iraq. However, the controversial law banning head scarves has evoked outrage in the Muslim world. On Sunday, Raffarin told reporters "the whole nation is united" over the case. Not only are the two men's' lives at stake, he said, but so are "freedom of expression and the values of the republic." French Muslim leaders said they stand with the government. "Today we live a sad moment for all the Muslims of France, because he who touches a human life touches the life of humanity as a whole," said Fouad Alaoui, vice president of the Union of French Muslim Organizations. "I make a call of the hostage takers, in the name of Islam and God the gracious, not to betray the principles of Islam." And Dalil Boubaker, president of the French Muslim Council, said the Muslim community was "solid in its compassion" for the journalists and their families. "We want to express our solidarity, and the union of the French country -- Muslim or not Muslim -- and to take this opportunity to join ourselves to this call, in this demand to the hostage takers, in the name of Islam, in the name of the most sacred, that human life is the most sacred gift from God, to spare the life of our compatriots," he said. [url]http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/31/france.hostages/index.html[/url] There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. -Reagan

---

Are you angry that others disappoint you? remember you cannot depend upon yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin

Sounds like you are gloating, which is too bad. French government will not stop ratifying the law, period. There were huge demonstrations in Paris yesterday demanding release of the hostages. A lot of protesters were Arabic.

---

..... and on the less brighter note:

---

I agree with 412 that France will do nothing. It may play into the hands of some US politicians if France appeased the demands at this point, but the fact is, France does what is in it's national interest. And I do not see how this would be. France does not always appease just so we can point to them and say they appease. It is an internal political issue, and will be treated by the french as such.

---

________________________________________
"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

I think France will give to the demands.... maybe not this time, but next. Did anybody noticed that Arafat pleaded for french hostages ? He didn't do it for americans or for spaniards or even for pakistani..... The natives are restless. Падонки. Capt. James Cook, Sat. Feb. 13th 1779, aboard HMS Discovery.

---

- Независимость - это когда в 20-й раз наступаешь на одни и те же грабли, а русские уже ни при чем....

Arafat sees France as the counter-balance to the US unilateralism, and therefore does not want France to be antagonised bu the Muslim world. This is not surprising. Arafat is a very misguided man, and as usual he sees the world through his own prism. I wouldn't read too much into any of this. Everyone is doing what they believe is best for them. As they should. The side that is able to understand these processes and harness them, will come out on top. It is in my personal interest that this side be the U.S. :)

---

________________________________________
"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

quote:

---

Arafat sees France as the counter-balance to the US unilateralism, and therefore does not want France to be antagonised bu the Muslim world. This is not surprising. Arafat is a very misguided man, and as usual he sees the world through his own prism. I wouldn't read too much into any of this. Everyone is doing what they believe is best for them. As they should. The side that is able to understand these processes and harness them, will come out on top. It is in my personal interest that this side be the U.S. :)

---

I don't completely trust France. It is not an issue of counterbalancing unilaterialism. Sometimes you do have to act unilaterially in order to do the right thing. France should not demand the right to give permission to the US for the US to look after it's own National Security interests. You know, doing the right thing, isn't always going to be the popular thing... but the right thing still must be done. France has been pro-Palestinian while Israel has had to face countless sucide bombings. France has also disregarded the perfectly legimate national security concerns of the Israelis in the blind support of the Palestinians while they commit terrorist acts in Israel. France has also been bailed out of trouble in not just one World War by the United States, but two World Wars and on top of that... the US spent countless dollars rebuilding France through the Marshall Plan. In return, France has treated the US with contempt even shortly after their country was rebuilt. The French behavior that we see today is just a continuing pattern that took place shortly after World War II. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. -Reagan

---

Are you angry that others disappoint you? remember you cannot depend upon yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin

Mestiza, again I feel I agree with everything you are saying, and yet you seem to think you disagree with me :) It is an interesting sutuation that keeps repeating! :) I do not defend France's behavior. Of course we should not ask their permission to do anything. But as a member of the security council, it is in our interest to be intelligent when dealing with this country, and many other countries. The common interest is that they do not want Paris attacked, and we do not want New York attacked. We should work from that premise. It is a necessary condition for winning the war on terror, for all countries that do not want to be attacked to act like adults. If we have to lead by example, I would not be opposed to that.

---

________________________________________
"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

We'll know in an hour or two. . .

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Egor: The common interest is that they do not want Paris attacked, and we do not want New York attacked. We should work from that premise. It is a necessary condition for winning the war on terror, for all countries that do not want to be attacked to act like adults. If we have to lead by example, I would not be opposed to that.

---

Hm, How exactly should we work from that premise if they want to apeace terrorists and we want to destroy them ? Thee is no middle/common ground there. The natives are restless. Падонки. Capt. James Cook, Sat. Feb. 13th 1779, aboard HMS Discovery.

---

- Независимость - это когда в 20-й раз наступаешь на одни и те же грабли, а русские уже ни при чем....

Al-Arabia reports that release of the hostages is "imminent".

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by KGBMan:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Egor: The common interest is that they do not want Paris attacked, and we do not want New York attacked. We should work from that premise. It is a necessary condition for winning the war on terror, for all countries that do not want to be attacked to act like adults. If we have to lead by example, I would not be opposed to that.

---

Hm, How exactly should we work from that premise if they want to apeace terrorists and we want to destroy them ? Thee is no middle/common ground there.

---

Both france and the US do what is in their best interest. this will not change. They do not believe they are appeasing anyone, just like we do not believe we are appeasing iran. They just believed that we were making a mistake, and most of the world agreed. I do not believe that everyone's platform is to "appease". The common ground is where I described it. They do not want to get hit any more than we do. We should identify with that and harness that, because we should be smart.

---

________________________________________
"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

Your words are to criptic for me. France way of dealing with muslim world is to give to their demands inside and to provide weapons and not critisizing outside its borders. I don't think we should do the same. I don't want sharia law and France will have it in the next 15 years. So, I guess it is in their best interest I don't see how our position can be adjusted to meet their and still be in our best interest. The natives are restless. Падонки. Capt. James Cook, Sat. Feb. 13th 1779, aboard HMS Discovery.

---

- Независимость - это когда в 20-й раз наступаешь на одни и те же грабли, а русские уже ни при чем....

quote:

---

I don't see how our position can be adjusted to meet their and still be in our best interest.

---

KGB, you hit something on the nail I believe. France and the US no longer have the same interests in my opinion. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. -Reagan

---

Are you angry that others disappoint you? remember you cannot depend upon yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin

The French economic philosophy is different than that of the US and at times French and American interests clash with one another. This is the real reason why France and America are drifting apart and this could continue. Only the future can tell. France has also launched many interventions in Africa where they had colonies without consulting the UN. The US has in the past and in the present opposed French and English colonialism. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. -Reagan

---

Are you angry that others disappoint you? remember you cannot depend upon yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin