Horse-trading over hostages

The type of deal that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki must make to retain power is illustrated by the traumatic endgame of negotiations between the UK and Iraqi governments and a militant Shia splinter group called Asaib Ahl Al-Haq (Leagues of the Righteous) over the release of British hostage Peter Moore. Asaib split from the Jeish Al-Mahdi after Muqtada Al-Sadr called his ceasefire in August 2007. The US military believes the group is backed by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Al-Quds force, whose leader Qais Al-Ghazali is in US custody.