Florence Aubenas, who had been kidnapped in Baghdad along with her driver Hussein Hannoun, was released this morning and has just landed back safely in France. Hussein Hannoun is safe with his family in Baghdad.
This is one small piece of news from Iraq that we can celebrate unashamedly, even if most of the other news from the country are that of death, destruction and senseless carnage.
The campaign of solidarity for her in France has been simply unbelievable, with the portraits of both hostages (along with those of hostages from other countries while they were held captive) hung on literally thousands of buildings across the country, like this:
and daily demonstrations of solidarity.
So yes, let’s not forget all the horrows from Iraq, but let’s time to celebrate this one item of good news and the joy of a mother.
