IRAQ: GOVERNMENT ORDERS EVACUATION OF AHMAD CHALABI'S OFFICE IN BAGHDAD FOLLOWING ORDER FOR ARREST. / U.S.TROOPS SURROUND SADR CITY.
Record ID:
230467
IRAQ: GOVERNMENT ORDERS EVACUATION OF AHMAD CHALABI'S OFFICE IN BAGHDAD FOLLOWING ORDER FOR ARREST. / U.S.TROOPS SURROUND SADR CITY.
- Title: IRAQ: GOVERNMENT ORDERS EVACUATION OF AHMAD CHALABI'S OFFICE IN BAGHDAD FOLLOWING ORDER FOR ARREST. / U.S.TROOPS SURROUND SADR CITY.
- Date: 11th August 2004
- Summary: (W3)BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 11, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: EXTERIORS OF OFFICES OF AHMED CHALABI. (6 SHOTS) 0.41 2. SCU/CU: IRAQI GOVERNMENT ORDER TO EVACUATE CHALABI'S OFFICES. (2 SHOTS) 0.58 3. MV: MEMBER OF IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS, MITHAL ALOUSI. 1.04 4. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Arabic) MEMBER OF IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS, MITHAL ALOUSI: "The doctor (Chalabi) is on his way to Baghdad and we are waiting for him. He will return home. I say it again that Zuhair al-Maliki (judge who issued the arrest warrant) is not a judge. He was working as a translator for (former U.S. civil administrator for Iraq, Paul) Bremer and he was appointed as a judge by Bremer. The arrest warrant is fabricated and we are afraid of no one. We are ready to confront and defend our rights and our country." 1.44 5. WS: EXTERIOR OF OFFICES OF AHMED CHALAB. 1.51 (W3)SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 11, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 6. VARIOUS: U.S. TANK MOVING AT EDGE OF SADR CITY. (3 SHOTS) 2.11 7. WS: CARS ON STREETS/ MEHDI ARMY DIRECTING TRAFFIC. 2.18 8. VARIOUS: OF MEDHI ARMY FIGHTERS WALKING ON STREETS, ONE CARRYING A ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE LAUNCHER (RPG) 2.27 9. MV: MEHDI ARMY CARRYING GUNS AND A ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE LAUNCHER. (RPG) CHANTING. 2.35 10. WS: MEHDI ARMY ON BACK OF MOTORCYCLE PILLION RIDER CARRYING A ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE LAUNCHER. (RPG) 2.40 11. MV: ARMED MEMBERS MEHDI ARMY CHANTING. 2.48 12. SCU: WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN STREET. 2.53 13. TRACK: WOMAN WITH CHILD CROSSING STREET. 3.00 14. MV: GIRLS WALKING ON STREET. 3.05 15. SCU: PEOPLE GREETING EACH OTHER ON STREET. 3.12 16. WS: WOMAN WALKING ON STREET/ RUBBLE IN BACKGROUND. 3.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 26th August 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SADR CITY, BAGHDAD,IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVACR6RLDMKCGTLQIGH84LE3DMTN
- Story Text: Iraqi government orders evacuation of Ahmad
Chalabi's office following order for arrest; U.S. troops
surround Sadr City.
The Iraqi government has ordered the Iraqi National
Congress (INC) to evacuate its headquarters, days after a
U.S.-appointed judge issued a warrant against the party's
leader Ahmad Chalabi, an INC official said on Tuesday
(August 10).
The INC accuses the government of a campaign against it
and insists that the judge who issued the arrest warrant
has no authority to do so.
"The doctor (Chalabi) is on his way to Baghdad and we
are waiting for him. He will return home", said Mithal
Alousi, a member of the Iraqi National Congress.
"I say it again that Zuhair al-Maliki (judge who issued
the arrest warrant) is not a judge. He was working as a
translator for (former U.S. civil administrator for Iraq,
Paul) Bremer and he was appointed as a judge by Bremer. The
arrest warrant is fabricated and we are afraid of no one.
We are ready to confront and defend our rights and our
country," he continued.
The INC took over the former intelligence headquarters
in Baghdad after the invasion last year. A host of other
Iraqi parties occupy buildings and property that housed the
security and government apparatus of the former ruling
Baath party.
Chalabi, who founded the INC as an opposition group to
Saddam Hussein that initially brought together foes of the
former Iraqi leader, was once tipped to lead post-Saddam
Iraq but his influence waned after his ties with Washington
soured.
Arrest warrants were recently issued against Chalabi in
connection with counterfeiting money and against his nephew
Salem Chalabi for murder. Both men deny the charges.
Formerly a darling of the Pentagon, Chalabi has fallen foul of his
old paymasters who accuse him of supplying
false intelligence over Iraq's supposed weapons of mass
destruction and of leaking secrets to Iran.
U.S. tanks could be seen in positions around Sadr City,
meanwhile, following days of clashes in which scores have
been killed or wounded.
The poor Shi'ite suburb was calm early on Wednesday,
with Mehdi army militias controlling traffic. Other
fighters roamed the streets and people went about their
daily business.
The radical Shi'ite uprising in several cities across
central and southern Iraq, the second in four months, has
killed and wounded hundreds and given Prime Minister Allawi
his sternest test since taking over from U.S.-led occupiers
on June 28.
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