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
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
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
British base turned over to Iraqi Army
Security
(AP) - The Shaibah logistics base, once the main center of British military operations in Iraq, was turned over to the Iraqi national army on Tuesday for use as a training base. The brief ceremony by British and Iraqi forces was the latest example of the coalition's efforts to give Iraqi forces control over some parts of Iraq as British forces plan to begin withdrawing from southern Iraq where most of them are based. Two other British bases - al-Saie and Shatt al-Arab - were turned over to Iraqi forces in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, in the last month.
The bulk of British soldiers in the city will now operate from a British base at Basra's main airport. After Tuesday's ceremony, during which British and Danish flags were lowered at Shaibah and an Iraqi one raised, Maj. David Gell, the British military spokesman in Basra, said: "It was a significant event marking the increasing capability of the Iraqi security forces. Closing these British bases enables us to focus on more productive operations designed to disrupt rogue militia activity, with less of our manpower tied down on base security and administrative tasks," he said in an interview.
Last week, Iraqi troops also took charge of security in the southern province of Maysan, a region that borders Iran. It was the fourth province to come under full Iraqi security control since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the others being the southern provinces of Dhi Qar, Muthanna and Najaf. Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie has said three Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq would follow next month, and then the southern provinces Karbala and Wassit.
Some British troops are still based in Maysan and are expected to continue training Iraqi security forces and patrolling Maysan's borders. British forces also will remain on call, if Iraqi officials decide they are need to support Iraqi security forces during fighting.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that Britain will withdraw about 1,600 troops from Iraq in the next few months, and plans to make more cuts to Britain's 7,100-strong contingent by late summer. A British handover of security control in Basra is anticipated in months, but British forces have lately suffered their heaviest losses for more than two years in an intensifying battle against Shia militias in southern cities such as Basra.
The bulk of British soldiers in the city will now operate from a British base at Basra's main airport. After Tuesday's ceremony, during which British and Danish flags were lowered at Shaibah and an Iraqi one raised, Maj. David Gell, the British military spokesman in Basra, said: "It was a significant event marking the increasing capability of the Iraqi security forces. Closing these British bases enables us to focus on more productive operations designed to disrupt rogue militia activity, with less of our manpower tied down on base security and administrative tasks," he said in an interview.
Last week, Iraqi troops also took charge of security in the southern province of Maysan, a region that borders Iran. It was the fourth province to come under full Iraqi security control since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the others being the southern provinces of Dhi Qar, Muthanna and Najaf. Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie has said three Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq would follow next month, and then the southern provinces Karbala and Wassit.
Some British troops are still based in Maysan and are expected to continue training Iraqi security forces and patrolling Maysan's borders. British forces also will remain on call, if Iraqi officials decide they are need to support Iraqi security forces during fighting.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that Britain will withdraw about 1,600 troops from Iraq in the next few months, and plans to make more cuts to Britain's 7,100-strong contingent by late summer. A British handover of security control in Basra is anticipated in months, but British forces have lately suffered their heaviest losses for more than two years in an intensifying battle against Shia militias in southern cities such as Basra.
Labels: British military, Denmark, Iraqi Army, Maj. David Gell, Shaibah logistics base
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
UK, Denmark plan to withdraw troops from Iraq
Security
(AP) Britain will withdraw nearly half its troops from Iraq by the end of the year if local forces can secure the southern part of the country, Prime Minister Tony Blair planned to announce Wednesday. Around 1,500 of Britain's 7,000-strong force will return home shortly, a British government official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak before Blair's statement. Britain has long been America's biggest coalition partner in Iraq.
Another coalition member, Denmark, was also expected to announce plans to begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq, Danish media reported. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen had earlier said he hoped Denmark would begin scaling back its 460-troop contingent this year, without setting a precise timetable.
Blair's office said the British leader would make a statement on Iraq and the Middle East to Britain's parliament following his weekly House of Commons questions session. It would not disclose the content. But the official said Blair planned to outline a strategy which would leave about 4,000 British soldiers in southern Iraq by the end of 2007 if the security there is sufficient.
Blair and President Bush talked by secure video link Tuesday morning about the proposals, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. Bush views Britain's troop cutbacks as "a sign of success" in Iraq, he said. According to the Brookings Institution, other major partners in the coalition include South Korea (2,300 troops), Poland (900), Australia and Georgia (both 800) and Romania (600).
Another coalition member, Denmark, was also expected to announce plans to begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq, Danish media reported. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen had earlier said he hoped Denmark would begin scaling back its 460-troop contingent this year, without setting a precise timetable.
Blair's office said the British leader would make a statement on Iraq and the Middle East to Britain's parliament following his weekly House of Commons questions session. It would not disclose the content. But the official said Blair planned to outline a strategy which would leave about 4,000 British soldiers in southern Iraq by the end of 2007 if the security there is sufficient.
Blair and President Bush talked by secure video link Tuesday morning about the proposals, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. Bush views Britain's troop cutbacks as "a sign of success" in Iraq, he said. According to the Brookings Institution, other major partners in the coalition include South Korea (2,300 troops), Poland (900), Australia and Georgia (both 800) and Romania (600).
Labels: Blair, Denmark, troop withdrawal, Uk
