January 10, 2006

Freed Hostages We'd Like to Meet: Bernard Planche Freed by Troops, Helps them Hunt Down Captors

He's French and he tried to help U.S. troops hunt down his captors! It just goes to show that while France generally sucks, there is a large minority that I'd love in my corner when fit hits the shan. Army News Service:

Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and Task Force Ironhorse Soldiers liberated a French hostage Jan. 7 in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad.

The Iraqi Army Soldiers were searching farm houses for weapons caches while U.S. Soldiers from Task Force Ironhorse manned a checkpoint as part of an outer cordon. As the Iraqi Army closed in on their location, the kidnappers fled from a nearby farmhouse and left the French hostage.

After the kidnappers fled, the hostage, Bernard Planche, a 52-year-old employee of a French non-governmental Organization, ran up to a checkpoint manned by Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 22 Infantry.

It's in Le Monde that we learn Planche tried to help U.S. soldiers hunt his captors down. No Pasaran has this:
Even though his kidnappers allowed him to listen to the radio and keep a personal journal — how thoughtful of the dears — Bernard Planche is one Western hostage who did not give in to the Stockholm Syndrome, helping in turn the United States army troops who freed him.
Great News!

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 09:56 AM | |