Posted on 10/23/2006 2:12:51 PM PDT by spacejunkie
BAGHDAD (AP)--U.S. troops late Monday raided the offices of a television station affiliated with a major Shiite party represented in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, the station's deputy editor said.
Haidar Kadhim said the troops arrived at al-Furat television complex in central Baghdad's Karadah neighborhood at about 9:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) and were still there when he spoke to The Associated Press 90 minutes later.
The troops disarmed the station's 40 guards, but allowed the management and editorial teams to continue to work undisturbed. They didn't search the offices.
Al-Furat staff work out of five neighboring buildings and the U.S. troops only used force to gain entry into one of them, a one-story structure housing the station's studios, according to Kadhim.
The station remained on the air, announcing news of the raid without comment in its news crawl.
Kadhim didn't know what prompted the raid on the station, which is sponsored by the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, Iraq's largest Shiite party and a key partner in al-Maliki's coalition.
SCIRI officials sent by the party's leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, arrived at the station and were negotiating the departure of the troops, said Kadhim.
There was no word on the raid from the U.S. military, which customarily announces the targets of security sweeps a day or two later, if at all.
U.S. and Iraqi forces are jointly involved in a two-month-old campaign to crush violence in Baghdad, launching home-by-home sweeps to flush out weapons, insurgents and members of sectarian death squads.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-23-06 1709ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Someone filmed the sniper attacks on U.S. Soldiers...are these the turds that did that or were involved in getting the infomration out?
I don't trust those Shiites. Or the Sunnis for that matter.
We do not need to get in between a civil war. Let them eliminate each other.
Interesting, it appears the military has figured out Hakim is not a good guy.
There is no civil war in Iraq.
Thought for a minute they hit CNN's Baghdad offices.
Darn.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.