[Dog Gone]

I wonder what kind of spying Iraqis do in New York that is of any value to them.

[MizSterious]

My guess? It might be more a matter of terrorism than spying per se--contacting agents, setting things up. Just a guess, and not even an educated guess at that.

[Charge Carrier]

We will probably never know.

"In mid-February, the United States expelled the U.N. correspondent of the official Iraqi News Agency, Mohammad Hassan Allawi. Last June U.S. officials expelled a first secretary at Iraq's U.N. mission.

Allawi, 38, had been the INA correspondent at the United Nations for two years. He lived in Manhattan with his wife and five children, aged 8 to 16, who attend New York public schools. The U.N. Correspondents Association protested his expulsion to Secretary of State Colin Powell and asked for an explanation, which it did not receive."
- from http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=443WYREUXI1P4CRBAEKSFFA?type=topNews&storyID=2333302

[hellinahandcart]

Well, the mayor lives directly across the street from the Iraqi mission...

Seriously, though. The only reason we know they were up to no good is that we were spying on THEM. They were either acting as couriers to and from some unsavory characters here in other missions, or it has something to do with that mosque bust in Brooklyn yesterday (or another one that hasn't happened yet). Their names may have come up during the investigation, and nothing can be done because of their diplo status. So they get booted.