We talked with Issam Rashid, the chief of security for the mosque

We talked with Issam Rashid, the chief of security for the mosque. He told us the story. At 3:30 am on Sunday

morning, 100 NIKE SHOX troops raided the mosque. They were looking for weapons and mujaheddin. They started the

riad the way they virtually always do — by smashing in the gates with tanks and then driving Hummer in. The

Hummers ran over and destroyed some of the stored relief goods (the bulk of the goods had already been sent to

Fallujah — over 200 tons — but the amount remaining was considerable). More was destroyed as soldiers ripped

apart sacks looking for rifles. Rashid estimated maybe three tons of supplies were destroyed. We saw for

ourselves some of the remains, sacks of beans ripped apart and strewn around.

The mosque was full of people, including 90 down from Kirkuk (many with the Red Crescent). They were all pushed

down on the floor, with guns put to the backs of their heads. Another person associated with the mosque, Mr.

Alber, who speaks very good English, told us that he repeatedly said, “Please, don’t break down doors. Please,

don’t break windows. We can help you. We can have custodians unlock the doors.” (Alber, by the way, was

imprisoned by Saddam for running a bakery. As he said, “Under the embargo, you could eat flour, you could eat

sugar, you could eat eggs, all separately. But mix them together and bake them and you were harming the economy

by raising the price of sugar and you could get 15 years in prison.)