Friday, August 17, 2007
Relatives of Danish soldiers receive threatening phone calls
Security
(AP) -- Denmark's military intelligence agency is investigating whether Iraqi insurgents have used mobile phone records to track down and threaten relatives of Danish soldiers deployed in Iraq, officials said Thursday. Family members of several soldiers have told Danish media that they received threatening phone calls from unidentified callers in Iraq.
The Iraqi callers may have tracked down the numbers by monitoring private phone calls made by the soldiers to their relatives in Denmark, according to the Danish Defense Intelligence Service. "Right now, we're mapping the extent (of the threats), after which we will consider whether our guidelines to our staff and their families regarding the use of cell phones and e-mails should be revised," agency spokeswoman Mette Noehr said. "To our knowledge, we're talking about a limited number of cases."
Noehr said the agency was not sure whether insurgents were behind the calls. "It could also be hoodlums but one thing is sure, we're taking this very seriously," she said. Denmark withdrew its 460-strong contingent from the southern city of Basra last month and replaced it with a small helicopter unit. Seven Danes have been killed in Iraq.
Pvt. Ralf Clemmesen, who served in Iraq in the first half of 2007, told Denmark's TV2 News that his father and girlfriend had received threatening phone calls from Iraq in February. "Someone yelled in broken English and it was not nice things," Clemmesen said in a live television interview. "I couldn't do anything. I was locked in Iraq. It didn't improve my concentration."
The relatives of at least 10 Danish soldiers had received similar calls, Clemmesen said. Army Col. Henrik Sommer, who is in charge of foreign operations, said there were no plans to bar Danish soldiers from bringing their private cell phones on foreign assignments. The military isn't sure how the phone numbers were obtained, but one explanation could be that someone got ahold of the soldiers' calling records from local telecom operators, Sommer said.
The Iraqi callers may have tracked down the numbers by monitoring private phone calls made by the soldiers to their relatives in Denmark, according to the Danish Defense Intelligence Service. "Right now, we're mapping the extent (of the threats), after which we will consider whether our guidelines to our staff and their families regarding the use of cell phones and e-mails should be revised," agency spokeswoman Mette Noehr said. "To our knowledge, we're talking about a limited number of cases."
Noehr said the agency was not sure whether insurgents were behind the calls. "It could also be hoodlums but one thing is sure, we're taking this very seriously," she said. Denmark withdrew its 460-strong contingent from the southern city of Basra last month and replaced it with a small helicopter unit. Seven Danes have been killed in Iraq.
Pvt. Ralf Clemmesen, who served in Iraq in the first half of 2007, told Denmark's TV2 News that his father and girlfriend had received threatening phone calls from Iraq in February. "Someone yelled in broken English and it was not nice things," Clemmesen said in a live television interview. "I couldn't do anything. I was locked in Iraq. It didn't improve my concentration."
The relatives of at least 10 Danish soldiers had received similar calls, Clemmesen said. Army Col. Henrik Sommer, who is in charge of foreign operations, said there were no plans to bar Danish soldiers from bringing their private cell phones on foreign assignments. The military isn't sure how the phone numbers were obtained, but one explanation could be that someone got ahold of the soldiers' calling records from local telecom operators, Sommer said.
Labels: Army Col. Henrik Sommer, Danish Defense Intelligence Service, Danish troops, Denmark, Mette Noehr, mobile phones
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Danes withdraw, hand over to British Army
Military
(Voices of Iraq) - Danish forces handed over their remaining missions to the British army and started withdrawing the rest of their troops from Basra, the media spokesman for the Multi-National Forces in Southern Iraq said on Wednesday.
"Danish ground forces handed their missions to the British army so as to start pulling out the rest of their troops from Basra," Major Matthew Bird told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "Four Danish helicopters arrived at the Basra international airport, northwest of Basra, while 50 Danish soldiers left to back the choppers," he added.
Denmark had 470 soldiers working among the Multi-National troops in Iraq under British command. 250 left the country last week, before the scheduled time for withdrawal on August 10, 2007. The European country was considered one of the U.S.'s allies in its invasion in March 2003.
"Danish ground forces handed their missions to the British army so as to start pulling out the rest of their troops from Basra," Major Matthew Bird told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "Four Danish helicopters arrived at the Basra international airport, northwest of Basra, while 50 Danish soldiers left to back the choppers," he added.
Denmark had 470 soldiers working among the Multi-National troops in Iraq under British command. 250 left the country last week, before the scheduled time for withdrawal on August 10, 2007. The European country was considered one of the U.S.'s allies in its invasion in March 2003.
Labels: Basra, British army, Danish troops, Major Matthew Bird, troop withdrawal
Friday, July 20, 2007
Denmark secretly airlifts 200 Iraqi employees out of Iraq
Humanitarian
(Reuters) - Denmark said on Friday it secretly airlifted out of Iraq about 200 translators and other Iraqi employees of its troops in Iraq and their relatives this week and most were expected to seek asylum in the Nordic nation. "Out of concern for the interpreters and their families' security as well as the security of the Danish base in Iraq, the Defence Ministry has chosen to inform the public after the interpreters and others had left Iraq," the Denmark Defence Ministry said in a statement.
It said the airlift involved "about 200" people. A ministry spokesman reached by telephone could not provide an exact number but said most of the Iraqis brought to Denmark were translators and their families. Danish Ambassador to Iraq Bo Eric Weber said the move followed the killing in December of an Iraqi who had worked with the Danes as an interpreter. Around 80 of those flown out of the country were employed and the rest were family members, he said.
"They had been working for us for about four years, and those who felt their security in Iraq was threatened have been granted visas to go to Denmark" where they can apply for asylum, Weber told Reuters. Britain and the United States have been reluctant to take large numbers of Iraqi refugees, while some European countries have toughened their stance on taking them in.
Last month the Danish government reached a deal with the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP) to offer visas to Iraqi interpreters who have aided Danish troops in Iraq out of concern they will be targeted by insurgents when the Danish contingent withdraws in August. Denmark's centre-right government had faced mounting pressure to find a way to help the Iraqis despite the small country's restrictive immigration policy and its increasingly problematic relationship with the DPP.
Denmark has about 470 soldiers in southern Iraq, serving under British command. It will withdraw all of its ground troops from Iraq by August and replace them with a small helicopter unit of 55 soldiers.
It said the airlift involved "about 200" people. A ministry spokesman reached by telephone could not provide an exact number but said most of the Iraqis brought to Denmark were translators and their families. Danish Ambassador to Iraq Bo Eric Weber said the move followed the killing in December of an Iraqi who had worked with the Danes as an interpreter. Around 80 of those flown out of the country were employed and the rest were family members, he said.
"They had been working for us for about four years, and those who felt their security in Iraq was threatened have been granted visas to go to Denmark" where they can apply for asylum, Weber told Reuters. Britain and the United States have been reluctant to take large numbers of Iraqi refugees, while some European countries have toughened their stance on taking them in.
Last month the Danish government reached a deal with the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP) to offer visas to Iraqi interpreters who have aided Danish troops in Iraq out of concern they will be targeted by insurgents when the Danish contingent withdraws in August. Denmark's centre-right government had faced mounting pressure to find a way to help the Iraqis despite the small country's restrictive immigration policy and its increasingly problematic relationship with the DPP.
Denmark has about 470 soldiers in southern Iraq, serving under British command. It will withdraw all of its ground troops from Iraq by August and replace them with a small helicopter unit of 55 soldiers.
Labels: airlift, Bo Eric Weber, Danish People's Party, Danish troops, Denmark, interpretors, southern Iraq, translators
