Back in May, five Britons were kidnapped in Iraq. They were working for the security agency GuardaWorld, apparently protecting an employee of BearingPoint.
The media silence on this issue is noteworthy. Usually when a person goes missing in Iraq, there is a sustained level of news coverage until the person is either released or killed. In this case, however, there has been nothing beyond the initial report.
Whenever hostages are released, they always state that their worst fear is that they have been forgotten by the outside world. Alan Johnston:
“The thing you don’t want is to be left behind, buried alive, and have the world go on around you,” he said.
So the campaign for a hostage’s release seems worthwhile in retrospect, even if it seems to make little material difference at the time. Its a shame that these five men have indeed been forgotten. If they are listening to a radio somewhere, they will hear no mention of their plight.
Can it be that, in the absence of named victims, the media has completely no interest? Or perhaps there is some kind of media embargo as negotiations take place? I’ve e-mailed the press departments of both companies concerned, but neither will offer further information.
