US Ambassador apologizes to Baghdad governor

The governor of Baghdad Salah Abdul Razak announced, Tuesday, that the US embassy to Iraq offered an apology for the incident involving four Americans carrying  weapons arrested on Thursday, near the Governor’s resident in the Green Zone in Baghdad. Abdul Razak threatened that in case such incident is repeated; the armed foreigners will be immediately shot and killed without investigation. In an exclusive statement to ‘Arabstoday’, Abdul Razak said that the US ambassador in Baghdad, James Jeffery, called him Monday evening, expressing his apology for the incident. He stated that the apology came after warning the US embassy to apologize before other measures would be taken concerning the issue. “The Iraqi Intelligence is to investigate the matter, as the presence of armed Americans in a residential area is suspicious,” he added. He stressed that all armed Americans and diplomats are prohibited from walking the streets of Baghdad without the knowledge and approval of the local government, highlighting the need for a police patrol to accompany any foreign diplomat, in order to avoid future problems or security violations. He threatened that any armed foreigners found in the region would be shot down without prior investigation, if their presence was not approved by the government or were not accompanied by Embassy-Protection police, further stating that “roaming of armed foreigners in a residential area is a security breach that must be dealt with.” The Governor of Baghdad had announced, last Thursday, that four armed Americans, including two women, armed with guns and machine guns have been arrested while they were driving near his house, to which he called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take clear action demanding a clarification from the US Embassy.