France Mobilizes Over Hostages
The French government said Sunday, August 29, 2004, it was “more than ever mobilized,” after two French journalists were taken hostage in Iraq by Islamic militants demanding an end to a ban on the Islamic headscarf in French schools. Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin held a meeting with the chairman of the French Committee of the Muslim Faith, Dalil Boubakeur, who said he was “shattered” by the “unworthy and odious blackmail” carried out by the militant group, calling on them to release the French hostages.