Armed US guards lay down law for Iraqi exiles By Patrick Cockburn in Salahudin, northern Iraq 27 February 2003
The first meeting of the Iraqi opposition in the heart of Iraqi Kurdistan was overshadowed yesterday by the presence of heavily armed Americans.
The occasion was meant to be a momentous one for the combined Iraqi opposition factions launching a democratic future for the post-Saddam era. However, the Americans dominated the meeting, loudly demonstrating their views on the process of nation building.
US special forces are known to have entered the country covertly but those who were waving their weapons yesterday were members of the Diplomatic Security Service, according to tags on their body armour.
"Stop filming and friggin' listen to me," one of them shouted as Zalmay Khalilzad, an American envoy, told the heavily guarded meeting that the US wanted the Iraqi people to determine their future.
The bodyguard, wearing black Aviator sunglasses, held a machine-gun in one hand and had a pistol strapped to his thigh. "This is non-negotiable and anybody who doesn't like it can leave," he yelled as he explained the stringent search procedures for anybody entering the building in the hilltop town of Salahudin.
Kurdish officials looked a little embarrassed at the swift takeover of their headquarters by Mr Khalilzad's burly and heavily armed guards. Half a dozen Kurdish soldiers peered with expressionless eyes at the Americans as a sudden blizzard of snow covered journalists and bodyguards alike with a coating of white.