In late August 2004, as American troops were pulverizing the holy city of Najaf to root out a group of Shi'ite insurgents from the holy mosque of Ali, two unfortunate French journalists were sequestered by a different group of militants. Like many other such kidnappings in Iraq, this one led to demands and to a threat of beheadings if the demands were not met. But there was a difference: rather than threaten the countries engaged in “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” this kidnapping was aimed at a country – France – that had staunchly opposed the war and refused to join the occupation. If the French government did not revoke a recently passed law banning the wearing of Islamic head coverings in French public schools, the kidnappers threatened, the journalists would pay with their lives.

This was a remarkable turn of events for several reasons. First, not for the first time, Islamist militants showed a total lack of understanding of who their friends were – or, at least, which countries they had a chance of exploiting in opposing their enemies. Second, as it turned out, the kidnapping had a perverse impact on Muslim opinion within France, turning many who had opposed the law banning the head scarf into supporters of the French republic's right to regulate its own mores. Third, and most broadly, the incident showed how deeply penetrated domestic and international contention had become by the beginning of the new century.