Dear all,

I have just got this email. please do what you can.

all the best,

Patricia

*******************************************************
Dear Patricia
 
Can you spread the following news about the national guards' occupation of
Iraq National Library & Archive. I need all the support I can get from
around the world.
Perhaps you can contact some British newspapers...
Below is the text of a message I sent to a dear American friend who always
stood by us..
The message explains everything...
(please note it will be difficult for me to have an easy access to the
internet because of the 4-day curfew) 
 
All the Best
Saad 
 
Dear ...
 
I hope this message finds well. 
I would like to inform you that the unruly national guards are continuing
their aggression against the INLA and its staff. 
This morning, (8 August), a group of Iraqi national guards has broken into
the National Library and Archive's main building. 
By this action, the national guards have violated the instructions of the
Council of Ministers, which clearly assert that Iraqi security and armed
forces cannot enter any state-run institution without a prior approval of
the government and the concerned authorities. 
The national guards took their action without consulting or asking me; they
simply entered the building by force. As the government declared 4-day
curfew period, I was not able to go the INLA to be with the INLA's guards,
who did not know what to do. Therefore, I talked to the commander of the
national guards by phone, asking him politely to leave the building
immediately. He refused to consider the idea of evacuating the building,
claiming that he had orders from his superiors and the Americans to occupy
the NILA. He justified his action by claiming that the national guards
wanted to protect Shi'i visitors of the holy shrines of al-Kadhimiyah, which
is 30 km away from the INLA!! 
 
I would also like to draw your attention to the fact on Monday (6 August), a
US military patrol entered the INLA's main building without my permission.
The commander of the patrol interrogated the INLA's guards and ordered them
to show their IDs. Please note, this was not the first time in which US
patrols entered the INLA without my permission. In July, US soldiers entered
the INLA three times. It seems clear to me that the actions of US soldiers'
have encouraged Iraqi national guards to do the same, i.e. entering and then
occupying the building by force.  
 
By the way, US army units and the national guards have their own bases in
the same old building of the Ministry of Defense, where they coordinate
their security efforts.  The old building of the Ministry of Defense is just
opposite the INLA. 
 
I contacted US authorities In Baghdad indirectly, hoping to stop the
violations and the unlawful actions of both US soldiers and Iraqi national
guards against the INLA and its staff. They showed no interest whatsoever.   
 
As you and others are fully aware, my staff and I have spent a lot of time
and efforts on the reconstruction of the INLA, after it was destroyed in
mid-April 2003. The reckless actions of US Army and the Iraqi National
Guards will put the INLA's staff and library and archival collections in
real danger. I hold both US Army and the Iraqi National Guards responsible
for all future material damages, cultural losses and human casualties. 
 
I need your support and that of your colleagues 
I will ask some of my friends in Europe to support us whatever the means
I will not cease my efforts to expose the wrong doings of the national
guards and those who are behind them 
 
As Ever
Saad Eskander