don't call it a quagmire

Main Entry: quag·mire Pronunciation: 'kwag-"mI(-&)r, 'kwäg- Function: noun 1 : soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot 2 : a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position: PREDICAMENT

call it a paradox

Iraq looting portends handover trouble By HAIDAR HANI Associated Press Writer AMARAH, Iraq — Iraqis looted a military base vacated by British troops and stripped it of virtually everything removable on Friday, an indication of possible future trouble for U.S.-led coalition forces hoping to hand over security gradually to the Iraqi government.

Men, some with their faces covered, ripped corrugated metal from roofs, carried off metal pipes and backed trucks into building entrances to load them with wooden planks. Many also took away doors and window frames from Camp Abu Naji.

"The British forces left Abu Naji and the locals started looting everything," 1st Lt. Rifaat Taha Yaseen of the Iraqi Army's 10th Division told Associated Press Television News. "They took everything from the buildings."

~

Camp Abu Naji, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, had come under almost daily attack when the Britons were in control, an indication of the hostility for foreign troops.

~

"British forces evacuated the military headquarters without coordination with the Iraqi forces," Jabbar said Thursday.

But the British military rejected the assertion, with Maj. Charlie Burbridge saying the hand-over was coordinated with Amarah authorities 24 hours in advance.

"It was understood that the governor was likely to use the camp as a police training camp," he said in an e-mail Thursday, adding that Iraqi forces had secured the base after the British soldiers left.

In the midst of the looting, one man who refused to give his name, said: "This is war loot and we are allowed to take it."

~

Militants inside the Al Qadir Al Kilami mosque fired small arms, machine guns and rocket propelled grenades at U.S. forces, a statement by the U.S. command said. They also hurled hand grenades and a bomb, it said.

American soldiers returned fire at first, and finally unleashed several rounds from M1 tanks into the mosque, said the statement.

"The mosque suffered serious structural damage to the dome and minaret," it said.

~

Elsewhere, two worshippers were killed at a Shiite mosque in the southern city of Basra during an exchange of fire between the mosque guards and gunmen. A police officer was killed in a drive-by shooting in downtown Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Iraqi army soldiers reportedly shot and killed two recruits and injured 10 others outside a recruiting center in southern Kut after they threw hand grenades.