on friday 15th, the red crescent charity criticized US forces
on sunday 17th, 30 of them were taken hostage by armed militia
is this a bump by one of the iraqi government departments or american intelligence? or a coincidence and a measure of how bad iraq really is?
15 december
The Iraqi Red Crescent, the country’s biggest humanitarian organisation, has accused United States troops of attacking its offices and vehicles.
The organisation’s vice-president said attacks by US-led forces were the biggest problem it faced.
The Red Crescent, which has a staff of 1,000 and 200,000 volunteers, is the only Iraqi aid group working across the country’s 18 provinces.
The US military said it was checking the allegations.
Jamal al-Karbouli, Vice-President of the Iraqi Red Crescent, said the latest incident occurred last week in the central city of Falluja. “We had our offices attacked by American forces. They detained the volunteers and staff for more than two hours,” Mr Karbouli said.
He added that two Red Crescent cars had been burned.
Mr Karbouli was speaking at a meeting of international Red Cross organisations in Geneva.
He went on to give other examples of alleged US harassment, including attacks on the organisation’s headquarters in Baghdad over the past three years.
“Four to five times they have attacked the headquarters, they break doors and windows, just to see. And they didn’t find anything and they left,” he said.
A US military spokesman told Reuters news agency that American troops did not damage sites when searching for insurgents. “Coalition forces strive to ensure they are respectful when they conduct interaction with the local population,” Lt Col Christopher Garver said.
18 december
The Iraqi Red Crescent has suspended its operations in Baghdad a day after almost 30 people were seized from its offices in the Iraqi capital.
A Red Crescent official said the kidnappers had released 13 people.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called for the others to be freed, saying the Red Crescent provided vital help for those in need.
The ICRC pulled its own international staff out of Iraq three years, ago when its offices there were bombed.
“We gave orders to our Baghdad staff to stop working till further notice,” said Mazen Abdallah, the Iraqi Red Crescent’s secretary general.
“We renew our calls for the release of the kidnapped persons.”
The 13 freed people were mostly guards and drivers, Mr Abdallah said.
He said the Red Crescent’s other offices outside Baghdad were open as usual.
Commando-style raid Officials described how a large convoy of new vehicles similar to those used by the Iraqi police drew up at the Red Crescent office in Baghdad on Sunday.
Men in uniforms similar to those of the Interior Ministry’s special commando forces got out and entered the building, saying they had been sent to check the premises.
Once inside, they rounded up all the men at gunpoint, including employees and visitors.
Three Iraqi guards from the nearby Netherlands embassy were also seized.
The interior ministry has said that none of its units had been on duty in the area at the time.
Infiltrated
The kidnappings are the latest in a long series of similar operations and the second in less than a week.
On Thursday, gunmen in military uniforms kidnapped up to 70 people from a commercial area in the Sanak area of the capital. At least two dozen people were subsequently freed.
Many of the kidnappings have been blamed on Shia militias masquerading as police commando units.
But there is also a suspicion that the police are so infiltrated by the militias that they are indistinguishable from each other, says the BBC’s Jim Muir in Baghdad.
Criminal gangs seeking ransoms are also involved in kidnapping.
The Iraqi Red Crescent, the country’s biggest humanitarian organisation, has previously been the target of the insurgency and random attacks.
On Friday, the organisation accused US troops of attacking its office and vehicles. The Red Crescent, which has a staff of 1,000 and 200,000 volunteers, is the only Iraqi aid group working across the country’s 18 provinces.