A French lawmaker said that US forces had torpedoed his mission to secure the release of two French journalists held in Iraq, leaving six Iraqi security guards dead in one incident.
Didier Julia, a lawmaker for President Jacques Chirac's ruling party, said his assistant Philippe Brett had persuaded the kidnapppers to release Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, who were abducted near Baghdad on August 20 with their Syrian driver.
They had left in two separate convoys from their place of detention and headed for the Syrian border, he said at a press conference in the Syrian capital Damascus.
Both convoys came under US fire, he said.
... "They (the US military) set up 20 roadblocks and ... six members of the team protecting the journalists were killed," said Julia, whose mission enjoys no backing from the French foreign ministry.
He said the six killed were Iraqi "guards" providing security for the journalists, adding that five houses where they lived were destroyed by coalition bombardments.
... The US military in Baghdad rejected Julia's accusations.
... French officials have publicly distanced themselves from Julia and Brett.
Didier Julia, a lawmaker for President Jacques Chirac's ruling party, said his assistant Philippe Brett had persuaded the kidnapppers to release Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, who were abducted near Baghdad on August 20 with their Syrian driver.
They had left in two separate convoys from their place of detention and headed for the Syrian border, he said at a press conference in the Syrian capital Damascus.
Both convoys came under US fire, he said.
... "They (the US military) set up 20 roadblocks and ... six members of the team protecting the journalists were killed," said Julia, whose mission enjoys no backing from the French foreign ministry.
He said the six killed were Iraqi "guards" providing security for the journalists, adding that five houses where they lived were destroyed by coalition bombardments.
... The US military in Baghdad rejected Julia's accusations.
... French officials have publicly distanced themselves from Julia and Brett.
We don't negotiate with terrorists, see? The whole affair is something of a mystery. I'm not sure where these guys are at the present time, but apparently they are still alive.
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