Training | 2009.07.29
British hostages in Iraq 'very likely' dead
Two British hostages held by a radical Shia group in Iraq since 2007 are "very likely" to be dead, Gordon Brown said today, as the men\'s families expressed anguish at the news.
The prime minister said the government was committed to doing all it could to secure the release of the last remaining British hostage, Peter Moore, who the government believes is still alive.
The families of Alan McMenemy and Alec MacLachlan, who had been working as private security guards in Baghdad, were told on 20 July that it was almost certain that they were dead.
The news came a month after the bodies of two other British security guards, Jason Cresswell and Jason Swindlehurst, were handed over to the British embassy in Baghdad. It appeared that they had been dead for several months.
In Baghdad, Sami al-Askari, a member of the ruling party who has served as a mediator in the crisis, said: "Four of the hostages are dead ... Two of them have been handed over and there are efforts being made by the government with the abductors to release the others."
If MacLachlan and McMenemy\'s deaths are confirmed, there are likely to be more questions over the government\'s handling of the two-year hostage crisis. The Foreign Office\'s efforts, its decision to restrict publicity over the cases, and its use of intermediaries in the negotiations with the hostage-takers have all been queried by politicians and some family members of the hostages.
Today, Avril Sweeney, Moore\'s natural mother, said: "I can\'t believe the FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] is going down the same old route when 26 months later all that has come of it is two dead bodies and two potential dead bodies. The FCO need to rethink their strategies and get Peter out of there.
"The stress of watching this going on is horrendous."
Earlier this month, a former Foreign Office minister, Kim Howells, now chair of the Commons intelligence and security committee, said the government might have wasted valuable time talking to "extremely dubious middlemen". He added: "I\'m not convinced we were ever negotiating with the right people – that\'s doubtful." British officials said that they had done everything possible to secure the release of the hostages, while insisting that no concessions would be made to terrorists or kidnappers.
The four guards had been providing security for Moore, a computer programmer who was installing software and training officials for the Iraqi ministry of finance, when the Britons were seized on 27 May 2007 in a highly sophisticated, well-armed raid by a Shia faction later identified as the Righteous League.
In a written statement rown said: "This is the worst of news, and my thoughts are with the families, whom I hope will be given the privacy they need to deal with their grief.
"I and the entire government are committed to doing everything that we can for the release of Peter Moore, whom we still believe to be alive. Hostage-taking is never justified and has no place in Iraq\'s future. I condemn it unreservedly, and once again call on the hostage-takers to release Peter Moore and give us clarity on the fates of Alec MacLachlan and Alan McMenemy."
Moore\'s stepmother, Pauline Sweeney, who raised him from the age of 14, said yesterday: "I plead to the hostage-takers to send home the bodies of Alec and Alan so that their parents can have closure and move on, and I appeal to them to please let Peter come back alive."
Sitting alongside her, McMenemy\'s wife, Rosalyn, said: "You understand how frightened we are to hear these reports and how hard it is for us to consider what might have happened to Alan. We continue to hope and pray that these reports cannot be true, we are desperate to have Alan home to his family. Please return him so that he can return to me and his children where he belongs."
Haley Williams, MacLachlan\'s former girlfriend and the mother of his child, added: "These reports are the worst possible news for us but we continue to hope they cannot be true. But whatever Alec\'s condition, he should no longer remain in Iraq. We appeal to those holding him to please send him home to us ... because as a family we can\'t cope with this any more."
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/29/iraq-hostages-dead
