Captive for over a year in Iraq – so why can't Foreign Office stage high-profile drive to free 'Alan from Dumbarton'?

PRESSURE by the government to keep the plight of five British hostages held in Iraq out of the limelight has left security experts split, after claims that one of them has taken his own life.

Information on the three men – two of whom are Scottish – is limited, as the Foreign Office has been striving to keep personal details under wraps.

The only details available identify Alan, from Dumbarton and Jason, from Wales; the third man is believed to have family living near Aberdeen. The two others are named as Alec MacLachlan from Wales, working for the Canadian security firm GardaWorld, and Peter Moore, an IT consultant from BearingPoint.

There were unconfirmed reports over the weekend by the captors, a Shiite militant group, that one of the men had killed himself.

Experts and Whitehall insiders have admitted that the case of the five is the most complex and delicate they have ever handled, involving the Shiite Islamic Resistance group, American coalition allies and the Iraqi administration.

But a Foreign Office spokesman yesterday denied that there was a "secrecy strategy or news blackout", pointing out that families had released interviews on the first anniversary of the men's captivity, almost two months ago.

However, Peter Power, of the crisis management group Visor Consultants, said: "Why is there so much publicity surrounding the disappearance of one girl in Portugal (Madeleine McCann] while these five in Iraq are left to rot?

"If keeping things quiet was the best policy, then would Alan Johnston (the BBC correspondent held in Gaza] have been released? There is a view that high profile might just succeed."

But Professor Paul Wilkinson, an expert on international relations from St Andrews University, argued the "softly softly" approach was more effective.

He said: "As far as communications are concerned, we have to remember that very discreet background negotiations are often the only way that these can be resolved. Relatives often want the government to take a more strident tone but I think softly softly is often best.

"It is a very complicated situation. The kidnappers are demanding the freedom of nine people who are currently being held by the Americans.

"One of these is a very senior spokesman from an extremist Shiite group."

Prof Wilkinson added that some of the prisoners are suspected of carrying out an attack on an American base in Iraq, which resulted in many American deaths.

There was the added complication that the Iraqi government now had jurisdiction.

"The agenda of the kidnappers may also be more complex and they may have made political demands that we don't know about."

However, Prof Wilkinson said there was room for hope, as the group was not affiliated with al-Qaeda and had at least indicated a willingness to enter into negotiations.

He also noted that there had been reports of the deaths of both Mr Johnston and Terry Waite, who was held for five years in Beirut, which turned out to be untrue.

It is understood that the British government has ordered special forces to look for the men, who are believed to be held in Sadr City or elsewhere in Baghdad.

Brown urged to maintain UK commitment to training Iraqi forces

GORDON Brown was yesterday urged by MPs not to abandon Britain's commitment to train and support the Iraqi security forces as the UK draws down its troop levels in the country.

The Prime Minister is expected to signal his intention to cut the 4,000-strong British force in Iraq over the course of next year when he delivers a Commons statement on the situation later today before MPs break for the summer.

However, the Commons' defence committee said that while the security situation had been "transformed" in recent months, more work was needed to ensure the country did not slip back into instability.

In a report timed to coincide with Mr Brown's statement, the committee said the training of Iraqi forces in the south of the country by British troops must remain a "medium to long-term project".

Maintaining a sizeable training commitment was also, it said, key to ensuring Britain remained influential in Iraq as the country – potentially one of the region's biggest oil-producers – recovered its "position as a wealthy and powerful nation".

The committee, which visited Iraq last month, delivered an upbeat assessment of the situation in the wake of an operation led by Nouri Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, against militias in Basra last March.

It said the operation, largely carried out by the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) with British and US support, had led to a "seismic shift" in the balance of power in the city. It had also transformed the way the British Military Training Teams (MiTTs) working with the ISF were able to operate. Whereas last year all training was carried out at the main British base at Basra Airport as it was too dangerous for the MiTTs to operate outside, teams were now based with their Iraqi "parent" units around the region.

The report states: "The MoD must continue to support the MiTTs in what will inevitably be a medium to long-term project. The larger the military training commitment we can maintain, the greater will be UK influence in Iraq, and in the region as a whole."