CAIRO (AP)--The militant group that has claimed the kidnapping of five Britons in Iraq has responded to pleas for their release by saying the U.K. government is at fault for its decision to participate in the Iraq invasion, a group that tracks Islamic militant Web sites said Monday.
The families of the five men, who have been held hostage in Iraq for nine months, released a message last month asking the Shiite Resistance in Iraq to release their loved ones. The message was read out on a video by Pauline Sweeney, the stepmother of Peter Moore, a U.K. management consultant who was kidnapped together with four of his U.K. security guards by a group of heavily armed men in police uniforms.
The Shiite Resistance in Iraq responded directly to Sweeney in a statement posted on a Shiite web forum on March 5, according to the Washington-based SITE Institute.
"We know that the British government is the one who stood behind your message, and ... is exploiting you to demand the release of your son, Peter, thus avoiding to take responsibility for sending him to implement its agenda in Iraq, " said the statement, a copy of which SITE provided to The Associated Press.
"However, we understand your feelings as a mother who is missing one of her sons," said the statement. "You in contrast should recognize the feelings of the mothers who are missing their children in detention centers and prisons of your government ... which occupies our land and steals our treasures."
Moore, who worked for BearingPoint Inc. (NYSE:BE) (BE), a U.S.-based management consulting firm, appeared in a video released by the kidnappers earlier in February. He was wearing a black-and-white track suit, had a beard and looked as though he was in good health.
The Foreign Office, which has viewed the video, has not released the names of the four others, who are all private security contractors with Canadian firm GardaWorld.
In the video, Moore called for the U.K. and Iraqi governments to agree to a trade that would involve the release of nine men held by U.K. forces in Iraq.
That appeared to be a significant downgrading in the demands of the kidnappers, who had called for the withdrawal of all U.K. forces from Iraq in an earlier video released in December.
However, U.K. officials have said that they do not make deals with kidnappers.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 03-10-08 1934 Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
