Iraq Military Storm National Archive

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 10, 2007 — -- Four years after being burned and looted, Iraq's National Library and Archive came under siege again, this time from armed Iraqi security forces that stormed the building two days ago, according to the library's director.

Saad Eskander, who has run the library since 2003, said a group of armed Iraqi troops rushed the archive at gunpoint, smashing windows and doors and threatening staff and library guards.

The director pleaded with the troops to refrain from harming the library's document collection, which includes some of the most historic documents in the Arab world.

The troops held positions in the building for two days before leaving late Thursday, according to Eskander, who said he now fears the archive will be targeted by extremists who routinely attack Iraqi forces here.

"The entire archive is in jeopardy," Eskander said today.

An Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman would not comment on the incident, but said it is not uncommon for American and Iraqi forces to temporarily commandeer houses and buildings for use as rest stops or lookout posts during military operations.

But Eskander said the Iraqi National Library and Archives should be exempt from such activities because it is a repository for the national heritage. And though he feared the soldiers could steal something, he acknowledged that the library's holdings had not suffered damage during the occupation.

The soldiers said they were occupying the three-story building, which sits on the east bank of the Tigris, in order to defend Shiite worshippers heading to the shrine of Khadimiya, about 15 miles away, according to Eskander.

Hundreds of thousands of Shiites marched to the gold-domed mosque in harsh heat and sun Thursday in a pilgrimage of devotion to an eighth century saint. Only scattered strikes by Sunni insurgents marred the event, which was held amid tight security to avoid the attacks that had occurred during past gatherings.

The soldiers positioned themselves on the roof of the library and dismantled the building's main gate and smashed doors and windows inside the main building, Eskander said. He's appealing for troops to keep the institution's books and archives out of the fight, warning that recent security moves have put one of the nation's most important cultural facilities at risk.