LONDON (AP): A Shiite militia that has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of five Britons in Iraq more than a year ago said one of its hostages committed suicide, a British newspaper reported. The Sunday Times of London published what it said was a statement in a video it obtained from the group through an intermediary in Iraq. The video, available on the Times Web site late Saturday night, shows an Arabic-language statement claiming that one of the hostages — identified only as Jason — killed himself on May 25. A photograph, apparently of Jason, is affixed to the top left corner of the statement. The newspaper said the statement blamed the British government for ignoring previous statements that the kidnappers and the captives have made. In the past, the militia has demanded that that all British forces be withdrawn from Iraq and that Iraqis held by US-led forces be freed.

“This 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 25/5/2008,” the Times quoted the statement as saying. It was not immediately clear which hostage the group was referring to. Five men — information technology consultant Peter Moore and four guards — were kidnapped from the Iraqi Finance Ministry compound in Baghdad in a brazen raid in May 29, 2007. Two of the guards are named Jason and the others are Alan and Alec. Their surnames have been withheld at their families’ request. In December, a man identified as Jason was featured in a hostage video aired on Al-Arabiya television. Looking haggard and occasionally glancing down as if to read a piece of paper, Jason said he and his fellow captives felt they had been forgotten.

Like the video carried by The Sunday Times, the Al-Arabiya broadcast showed a statement and identified the men’s captors as the Shiite Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
The British government said Saturday night that it could not confirm the veracity of the latest video or verify its claims.
But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who had just left Iraq after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Saturday, called The Sunday Times report a “very distressing development” said that he was taking it seriously.
“I raised the case of these men with PM Maliki,” Brown said in a statement. “We both share a desire to see them returned safely to their families. I call on those holding the hostages to release them immediately and unconditionally.”
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called hostage-taking “disgusting” and deplored the “deep distress and concern” he said the report would cause the families of the five men.
The video carried by the Times shows another hostage, speaking against a blank wall and apparently reading something. The hostage, identified by the Times as Alan, appeals for the British government to release Iraqi prisoners, “especially female and religious prisoners.”
“I’d like that to be done within one month,” he says.
He adds that despite what he calls “good treatment” from the Iraqi resistance, he was not doing well.
“Psychologically, I’m doing a lot worse. I want to see my family again. I’d like for the British government to please hurry,” he says. It was unclear from the video exactly when he made the statement, although in it he says he has been in captivity more than a year.
Meanwhile, President George W. Bush’s top military adviser said on Sunday setting an unconditional two-year timetable for getting US troops out of Iraq in two years would be dangerous.
But Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he would be able to recommend more troop reductions this fall if conditions there continued to improve.
Asked about a hypothetical two-year withdrawal timeline, Mullen told “Fox News Sunday, “I think the consequences could be very dangerous.”
“I’m convinced (that) making reductions based on conditions on the ground are very important. We’ve been able to do that. We’ve reduced five brigades in the last several months and, again, if conditions continue to improve, I would be able to make recommendations to President Bush in the fall to continue those reductions.”
The White House said on Friday that Bush, who has long opposed any set schedule for a withdrawal, had agreed with Iraq’s prime minister to consider a “time horizon.”
Mullen said such a goal, which would be part of a security agreement being negotiated between the two countries, sends a signal that “eventually we do want to bring our troops home.”
He said his mission from Bush was to advise on troop withdrawals “exclusively based on conditions on the ground.”
“I’d worry about any kind of rapid movement out and creating instability where we have stability,” he said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told CNN in an interview that with violence in Iraq declining and the political system there functioning better, “we would be foolish and they would be foolish to put at risk those gains by too rapid a decline in the American forces there.
“But we can look at the situation, we can have an aspirational time horizon, we can look at the changing roles and responsibilities of Iraqis and Americans. Those are all perfectly logical things to do,” Rice told CNN’s “Late Edition.”
Iraq on Sunday denied Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had made remarks backing US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s plan to withdraw troops from the country and demanding a quick pullout.
The German weekly Der Spiegel reported that Maliki in an interview had supported Obama’s plan to withdraw most US troops from Iraq within 16 months if he took office next January.
This “would be the right timescale for withdrawal, allowing for minor adjustments,” Maliki reportedly told the news magazine in the interview to be published on Monday.
Der Spiegel also said that Maliki demanded that American forces leave Iraq “as soon as possible.”
“To date, the United States is struggling to agree on a concrete date for withdrawal because they view such a step as an admission of defeat, which is not the case,” Maliki was reported as saying.
But on Sunday Baghdad government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh denied Maliki had made the remarks, saying they had been “misunderstood and mistranslated and not conveyed accurately.”
Dabbagh said that any statement by Maliki or member of Iraq’s government “should not be understood as support for any US presidential candidate.”
US forces shot dead the 17-year-old son and another relative of the governor of northern Iraq’s Salahuddin province in a raid on Sunday, local officials said.
The US military said it shot two armed, adding it was later found they were both related to the governor.
Governor Hamad al-Qaisi’s brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Saad al-Qaisi, said American troops stormed a family house in the town of Beiji, where the governor’s son Hussam and his cousin were staying.
“They shot dead Hussam and wounded three others. This is barbaric and inhuman,” he said.
Iraq’s Electoral Commission said on Sunday time was running out to hold provincial elections this year because of parliament’s delay in passing legislation needed for the poll.
Al-Maliki has set Oct 1 as the date for the provincial elections, which will provide early clues on how parties will fare in parliamentary elections scheduled for 2009 — polls that will determine if Maliki himself will remain in power.

The Electoral Commission sent a letter to parliament on Sunday urging it to ratify the draft law soon, the commission head Faraj al-Haidari told Reuters by telephone. “We need at least three months after the law is passed to prepare so polling can be up to international standards,” he said. US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is popular among Iraqis. In two dozen interviews across the country, many told Reuters a black man would understand their plight. Obama arrived in Baghdad on Sunday on only his second trip to Iraq. He wants to bolster his foreign policy credentials and counter accusations from Republican presidential rival John McCain that he has not seen conditions in Iraq for himself.

“I support Obama. I think he is the best for Iraq and for the world ... if McCain wins I will be devastated,” said Mustafa Salah, an office worker in the southern city of Basra. Hisham Fadhil, a doctor in northern Kirkuk added: “He is much better than others because he is black and black people were tyrannised in America. I think he will feel our suffering.” Al-Maliki flies to Europe this week to meet leaders in Germany and Italy, woo businessmen and hold talks with Pope Benedict. The trip builds on a flurry of diplomatic activity in the past month as regional countries have moved to upgrade ties with Baghdad, write off debts and talk about rebuilding Iraq. Maliki will visit Germany from July 21-23 and Italy from July 24-25.