U.S. troops raid Palestinian mission in Baghdad, arrest 11

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

U.S. troops raid Palestinian mission in Baghdad, arrest 11 By Slobodan
Lekic ASSOCIATED PRESS Thursday, May 29, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops raided the Palestinian Authority's mission
in Baghdad and arrested 11 people after ransacking the building, a
Palestinian official said Thursday. A top U.S. general said eight
people were arrested.

The detained men included charge d'affairs Majah Abdul Rahman, who was
running the mission in the ambassador's absence, mission official
Mohamed Abdul Wahab said. They were taken to a U.S. base in the center
of the city and have not been released, he said.

"They even took all of our water bottles and food cans," Wahab said.
"They behaved like common thieves."

U.S. troops have conducted numerous sweeps against suspected criminals
and loyalists of Saddam Hussein's regime. Wednesday's raid was
believed to be the first such action against a foreign diplomatic
mission.

Wahab said dozens of U.S. troops escorted by several armored vehicles
arrived at the building in Baghdad's embassy district Wednesday
morning. After the guards opened the gate, soldiers burst into the
building and detained officials, drivers and gardeners.

The soldiers seized three AK-47 assault rifles that were used to guard
against looting that laid waste to much of the capital after it fell
to U.S. troops, Wahab said. The rifles and a handgun, which was also
confiscated, were properly licensed by Iraq's former government, he
said. "Every embassy has guns, we used them to ward off looters,"
Wahab said. "To attack a foreign embassy is a criminal act and a
breach of diplomatic immunity."

Gen. David McKiernan, commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq,
confirmed Thursday that troops entered the diplomatic compound."That
happened in a part of Baghdad where we lost a soldier," he told
reporters.

McKiernan said seven Palestinians and a Syrian were detained, adding
that he did not know how many had diplomatic status. Troops seized
four AK-47s, four hand grenades, and a .38 caliber pistol, he said.
Wahab said the soldiers used shotguns to blast open office doors,
though he said all were unlocked or had keys in them.

Many of the doors in the building bore the marks of combat boots and
several had their locks shot off. An embassy safe appeared to have
been opened after the door hinges had been broken off, and file
cabinets were standing open with all of their contents removed. An
official photo of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was smashed on the
floor.

Wahab said the soldiers took away two embassy flags. He said the
troops had told staff that the mission did not have permission for its
automatic weapons.

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm