A freed captive's look at Jihadist extremists

French journalist George Malbrunot spent 124 days as a hostage of Islamic fundamentalists in Iraq. The experience nearly broke him, but it also offered him stunning insights into the way jihadist groups operate. He returned convinced of one thing: America's policy is doomed.

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"One of our jailers told us they have four enemies," he said. "American soldiers and other coalition members, collaborators, which meant businessmen -- Italian, American or even French -- who are working there, the Iraqi police and spies." Any new Iraqi government, he said, will be viewed as an enemy, just as the Americans -- and even secular Arab leaders -- are viewed. The group's main goals are far from modest. They want to defeat America in Iraq, drive a wedge between Europe and America and "overthrow the Arab leaders in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and return to the caliphate (Islamic rule) from Andalusia (Spain) to China."

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"These people will not surrender," he said, referring not only to the what he estimated to be the 15,000-17,000 member strong Islamic Army in Iraq which kidnapped him and Chesnot, but also to the dozens of other Islamic fundamentalist groups fighting in the country. "They have time, they have weapons, they have money. And, they are fighting at home. I am afraid it will only get worse, that they will get more and more power. It frightens me." What's worse, he said, is that in US President George W. Bush, "they have a great partner." Neither side is willing to budge.

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Malbrunot, 41, became an instant celebrity in France the minute he and Chesnot, 38, disappeared. Now, a month after his release, he offers a curt assessment of where America's Iraq policy is headed: "Straight into a wall." He also has some blunt advice for journalists planning to cover the war. "Don't go to Iraq," he said. "You will be killed. No story is worth your life."

Read Four Months on Planet bin Laden

Thankfully, some reporters are willing to make that sacrifice.