*Ø* Chaos grips bid to free hostages held in Iraq

The Observer:

"A series of unauthorised attempts to free two French journalists held hostage in Iraq for more than six weeks have caused acute embarrassment for President Jacques Chirac and may have jeopardised official negotiations for their release.

"Confusion surrounds the rescue mission launched independently by a maverick politician from Chirac's own ruling UMP party, Didier Julia, and his envoy Philip Brett, a former security guard for the extreme-right National Front movement. On Friday they promised that the journalists were about to be freed, but yesterday there was still no sign of them ...

"In Iraq, however, there is increasing anger about the huge attention paid to foreign hostages while hundreds of locals are being abducted. More than 100 Iraqi doctors have been kidnapped or killed since the fall of Saddam's regime, official figures released last week reveal. Hundreds more have fled overseas, seriously weakening efforts to reconstruct the dilapidated healthcare system." [My emphasis]

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