French hostage freed by military

[ECH1969]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A French humanitarian worker who had been held hostage in Iraq for more than a month was freed Saturday during a joint U.S.-Iraqi military operation, the military said.

Conducting a joint search operation in the area, U.S. and Iraqi military came upon the farmhouse, and Planche's captors fled, leaving him free to walk away.

Planche, a resident of Lyons, France, was kidnapped in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood on December 5.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/08/french.hostage/

[maddezmom]

1. AP's story a bit different

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A French engineer taken hostage in Iraq last month was found alive in a car, Iraqi police said Sunday.

Bernard Planche was found Saturday night after several men fled the car just before reaching a checkpoint in the western Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib, said Maj. Falah al-Mohammadawi.

Planche, who worked for a non-governmental organization called AACCESS, was kidnapped Dec. 5 on his way to work at a Baghdad water plant. Militants last month released a video of him sitting between two armed men.

~snip~
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_hostage_found;_

[daleo]

3. Quite a difference

This version is not nearly so valuable as propaganda. It sounds more like someone just wanted to release him, while the other has the "military rescue" meme happening.

[Igel]

4. Yes, but "desired to release him" is not easily

read into the text of the article.

"A French engineer taken hostage in Iraq last month was pushed out of a car near a checkpoint in a Baghdad suburb, apparently freed by nervous captors who then fled, Iraqi police said Sunday."

It's at least as much presupposition to assert that they planned to release him quietly than it is to assert that they released him out of fear or nervousness. (To say "fear" would be insulting, and I don't know if the Iraqi police queried were interested in insulting the kidnappers.)

The facts are fairly clear: the guy was captive and is now free. What the captors' motivation was is pure speculation, unless they told their hostage and he's forthcoming and reliable. But we can produce some possible contingencies.

If the checkpoint was set up just before the guy was released, planning would be less likely and being caught off guard more likely; if it was a longstanding checkpoint, I'd call it a draw. After all, the publicity of being a generous, benevolent kidnapper can't be ignored, and has been used in the past to "win hearts and minds". Of course, that would require the journalists to provide us with facts (or likely facts--there's no "infallibility requirement" implied), instead of feeding us their speculation in a vacuum.

[daleo]

5. True, I was speculating on that point

They may have planned to release him, or they may have come across a checkpoint unexpectedly and decided to bail out while they could, leaving this fellow behind. At any rate, "military rescue" doesn't seem correct.

It may also be that a ransom was paid, and this was a planned release. I think the western press and military authorities prefer to keep those things quiet - "we don't negotiate with terrorists" and all that.

[jamesinca]

2. I can just see it now

the headline at FOX will be "more proof that the French are Al Queida" One a more serious note, I am happy that he survived.