Forwarded from the Canadian Archives and Archivists discussion list:
Elizabeth Fairfax, MA, CA
-----Original Message-----
From: Corbett, Bryan [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 10:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [Arcan-l] FW: Urgent moral support needed
FYI
Bryan Corbett
University Archivist,
University of Alberta,
Book and Records Depository (BARD)
100, 8170-50th Street
Edmonton, Alberta
CANADA T6B 1E6
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Patricia Sleeman
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 8:29 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Urgent moral support needed
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
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