Time for change of tactics over secret hostages?

Published on Friday 25 July 2008 21:34

THERE are no ordinary days in Baghdad, but for Peter Moore, a computer specialist from Lincoln, and his four British security guards, 29 May, 2007, looked on paper to be routine.

The task at hand was educating Iraqi civil servants on computer spreadsheets, accountancy software and the intricacies of IT. At the finance ministry, an office block in a walled compound in the heart of the Iraqi capital, a class of civil servants was seated in an office listening to Mr Moore's lecture when gunmen stormed the room.

A few minutes earlier, a force of about 40 armed men, dressed in the uniforms of the Iraqi army and police, had penetrated the compound walls. At the time, Mr Moore, who worked for BearingPoint, an American management consultancy, was under the armed protection of four private security consultants employed by GardaWorld, a Canadian security firm. The two waiting outside the building were quickly overpowered, while the pair in the classroom were also disarmed. The five men were then bundled into some of the 19 waiting vehicles and driven off through the crowded streets towards the Shia enclave of Sadr City.

There was one lucky escape: another consultant was able to hide among the civil servants and raise the alarm.

In any kidnap scenario, time is a crucial factor. But what exactly has taken place in the hours, days, weeks and months since those events remains under a shroud of secrecy, with only the occasional event or comment giving some kind of shape to the chronology.

Back in Britain, the news of the kidnapping was immediately accompanied by a note from the Foreign Office urging the media not to report on the identities of the four security consultants, for fear that their backgrounds, if disclosed, could aid their captors. Fourteen months on, we know them only as Alec from Wales, Jason from Wales, Jason from Aberdeenshire and Alan from Glasgow.

Their case cannot be described as forgotten, as it was never properly known. Yet last weekend, their plight, lost amid the chaos and confusion of Iraq, reappeared in the media, with the release of a video and an unconfirmed report that one hostage had taken his own life.

At first, the media reported that the hostage was Jason from Aberdeenshire, before it was corrected by the Foreign Office as being Jason from Wales. A statement, from the Shiite Islamic Resistance in Iraq, read: "(The] procrastination and foot-dragging and lack of seriousness on the part of the British government has prolonged their psychological deterioration, pushing one of them, Jason, to commit suicide on 25 May. He surprised our brethren who were taking care of him, with his suicide."

The statement was accompanied by a video featuring Alan from Glasgow. In it, he said: "This is a message to the British government to ask why after one year I've received no attention – I've received nothing. Over the past year, the treatment from my captors has been very good, to say the least. I'd like to thank my captors and the Iraqi resistance for that treatment. I'd like for the release of all Iraqi prisoners, especially female and religious prisoners, and I'd like that to be done within one month.

"I would like for the British government to please hurry up. I'm appealing to you to please hurry and try and get this resolved as soon as possible."

In the immediate aftermath of the kidnappings, a team of hostage rescue experts flew from Britain to supplement a team already in place at the British Embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone.

In such situations, embassy staff, supported by MI6 officers and British military intelligence, quiz contacts for information, while mobile phones are monitored for clues, with input from the Iraqi government and the United States army. In this case, a series of raids on safe houses used by insurgents were unsuccessful.

In the days that followed, no-one claimed responsibility and no ransom demand was issued. Seven days after the kidnapping, Dominic Asquith, then Britain's ambassador to Iraq, made the first formal appeal for the hostages' release and indicated the government was prepared to talk to the kidnappers. A few days later, a rescue mission was launched by US forces, who believed they knew the hostages' location. On 21 June, 2007, General David Petraeus admitted his men had narrowly missed freeing them, a comment that angered the Foreign Office.

Kidnappings of foreign nationals are common in Iraq, and the majority have been released. In the three years after the 2003 invasion, more than 250 foreigners were abducted. At least 44 were killed, 135 were released, six were rescued and three escaped. The fate of the others is unknown.

The British hostages are being held by an extremist Shiite group seeking the release of nine people held by the Americans and thought to have been responsible for the deaths of US soldiers in an attack on one of their military bases.

Any negotiation is extremely difficult, as it involves both the Iraqi government and the US military. In addition, according to one source, British security services no longer have a reliable way of communicating with the group.

The location and condition of the Britons is unknown. It has been reported they may well be in Iran, and they would almost certainly be kept at separate locations to reduce the risk of a successful rescue. Richard Butler, the photojournalist freed by Iraqi soldiers after two months in captivity, reported that, while well-fed, he was handcuffed and had to wear a hood for the duration of his ordeal.

After 14 months, the effectiveness of the British government's request for a "softly-softly" approach, with minimal press coverage, is being questioned. When Sean Langan, the British TV journalist, was kidnapped in Afghanistan earlier this year, Channel 4 and his family decided to keep it quiet, and not to involve the British government directly, to allow the production company to pay a ransom of 150,000 for his release.

Bob Shepherd, a former SAS soldier who works as a private security contractor, thinks it may come to that for the five British captives. Mr Shepherd, who stressed he would not say anything to jeopardise the men's fate, said: "If the group who have them do not get what they want, the best-case scenario is they are 'bought' or passed on to a gang who will hold them to ransom."

Mr Shepherd, who stopped working in Iraq in 2004 as he believed the security situation made protecting his clients impossible, believes it is in the British government's own interest to keep the kidnappings quiet. "In my view, there is a lot of spin – they want to maintain the erroneous image that Iraq is a place where people can do business," he said.

Last week, a middle-aged man with multiple sclerosis, who walks leaning heavily on a cane, returned to Baghdad carrying the hopes of the kidnapped men's families. Canon Andrew White is the so-called vicar of Baghdad and the minister of St George's, the only Anglican church still standing in Iraq. On the day of the abduction, he began meeting religious leaders and has invested a huge amount of time trying to track them down. "So many times we have thought we were nearly there and we have not been," he said. "But you cannot give up." That is a sentiment backed by Mr Shepherd, who said his message to the relatives was simple: "Stay strong."

Yet for the families of the two Scottish hostages, the anguish of watching their loved ones in grainy film footage makes such a message hard. For them, too, there are no more ordinary days.

Difficulties must not be underestimated

Professor Paul Wilkinson says Britain cannot act alone

Professor Paul Wilkinson Emeritus professor of international relations at St Andrews University

THE Shiite Islamic Resistance in Iraq, the group holding the British hostages, demands the release of nine prisoners held by the Americans as the price for the release of the hostages.

The prisoners are thought to include a former senior member of the Shiite Mahdi Army, Qais al-Khazaali, believed by the Americans to have been involved in an attack that killed five US soldiers.

An initiative involving mediators appointed by the Iraqi government proved unsuccessful.

There are grounds for hope. They are not being held by al-Qaeda, the kind of group that abducted and later beheaded Ken Bigley, and others. Judging from the message from Alan, the hostages are managing to withstand the physical strains. It is even possible that a degree of bonding between captors and hostages will have made it less likely that the hostages will be killed.

However, it would be foolish to underestimate the difficulties of securing their release. There is a natural urge to concede to demands to free hostages, but governments have a responsibility to others who in the future might be at higher risk if terrorists can see the government has previously caved in to demands.

In any case Britain does not have the power to meet the demands unilaterally. It has to work closely with its US allies and the Iraqi government and explore all possible options for resolving the situation, including rescue.