The kidnappers of foreign hostages in Iraq, whether they are affiliated with Al-Qa’ida or not, demand the removal of foreign military presence. They try to achieve this through kidnapping civilians whose only fault is that they are citizens of a certain country that agreed to the US’s call and sent their armies to Iraq. The kidnappers are trying to hinge their kidnapping of the two French journalists on the repealing of the French law that bans religious symbols in public institutions.