Militants 'wanted Bush re-elected'
Freed journalist attacks failed mediation bid
 |  Malbrunot, right, and Chesnot speak to reporters after arriving in Paris. |
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 French reporters, held captive in Iraq for four months, return home
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(CNN) -- A French journalist held hostage in Iraq for four months says his captors wanted U.S. President George W. Bush re-elected because it would help promote their cause.
Georges Malbrunot, who was released Tuesday along with fellow journalist Christian Chesnot, told CNN the Iraqi militants "need someone tough against them, it's like boxing."
Speaking by telephone from Vichy, France on Friday, Malbrunot quoted his captors as saying Bush's re-election "would improve our ability to fight."
"We vote for Bush because Bush help us a lot by intervening in Afghanistan. So, from that point we could spread all over the world and we are now in 60 countries," Malbrunot cited one of the militants as saying on October 15, two weeks before Bush defeated Democrat John Kerry.
Malbrunot, 41, quoted the same militant as saying: "Our main targets are Saudi Arabia and Egypt. And because of Bush, if he is re-elected, we are sure that American soldiers will remain in Iraq for years."
In a separate interview on RTL radio, Malbrunot said it would take time for them to recover from their ordeal.
"Sleeping, for example, is hard," he said. "But the life of a free man is far easier than that of a hostage," he added.
Le Figaro reporter Malbrunot and Chesnot, 37, who works for Radio France Internationale, were reported missing August 21 after they left Baghdad for Najaf.
An Iraqi insurgent group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said in a statement posted on Islamist Web sites Tuesday it released the pair for several reasons, including some French government positions on Iraq and appeals by Islamic groups for their freedom.
They returned to France late on Wednesday to a heroes' welcome from family, friends and politicians led by President Jacques Chirac. French government sources said the release was arranged through intermediaries, and no ransom was asked and none was paid.
The militant group had demanded the French government repeal a ban on the wearing of head scarves by Muslim girls in public schools.
The law, which also covers religious items such as yarmulkes and large crosses, took effect at the start of the school year.
The French government had been attempting to win the journalists' freedom but did not repeal the ban. French Muslim leaders had joined government officials in condemning the kidnappings.
Sources credited the French Muslim community with helping to aid in the release arrangements.
France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, estimated at 5 million.
Shortly after returning to France, Malbrunot reignited a row over a failed bid in September by self-appointed mediators to secure the reporters' freedom, launching a fierce attack on those behind the venture.
"I am outraged by (their) behavior ... it was playing with the lives of their compatriots, which deserves nothing but contempt," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Didier Julia, the deputy at the center of the storm, faces expulsion from Chirac's ruling UMP party for his role in the affair. His emissary in the matter was Philippe Brett, a little- known businessman with a history of political dealings in France and Iraq.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
