UK-Iraq
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey made a new appeal Saturday for the release of five Britons held in Iraq for almost a year.

Speaking in English and Arabic in a video, released through the Times newspaper, Carey urged the kidnappers as "honourable men" and "men of faith."
The former spiritual leader of the Church of England made a similar appeal in December, but according to the BBC, the British government distant itself from the new call after maintaining a virtual news blackout about the hostages.

Carey was said not to speak for the government, which preferred discreet negotiations but was doing everything it could "to secure the safe release."
The five men, described as four guards and a computer expert, were seized from the Iraqi ministry of finance in Baghdad on May 29, 2007.

"I greet you as honourable men. I greet you as men of faith. I believe, as you do, that faith is important in this broken world," Carey said. "I appeal to you, as good people, to release these men who long to be back home once more," he said.

Appealing with the former archbishop, Canon Andrew White told the captors that Iraq was one of the "greatest nations" in the world and that the hostages had been helping with reconstruction work in the country when they were taken.

White, who Anglican chaplain to Iraq, also told the Times, that the appeal was as "religious leaders" and separate from everything the Foreign Office, the Government of Iraq and the embassy in Baghdad is trying to do.

But according to the paper, the father of one of the unnamed captives, was heavily critical of the Foreign Office's efforts to free the men, saying it seemed "a long time since we had any real information."