Breaking - Swedish Embassy in Baghdad hit by Rocket

[Pert_UK]

BBC and CNN news are both citing Reuters as the source. First reports indicate nobody was injured, but there's no clear reason for why the Swedes would be targeted.

No link on websites yet.

[doni_georgia]

1. It's turning into a holy war

Bush drew a line in the sand at his "press conference" last week. The extremists in Iraq won't all westerners out of Iraq, whether they are part of the coalition or not. They see this as a war on Islam. Sweden isn't Islamic, and so I am not surprised that the extremists would target a neutral country - guilt by association.

[Pert_UK]

2. Yeah, but Sweden was against the war.....

and isn't playing a large role in the coalition, so it would make more sense to target other countries who supported the war.

Having said that, apparently the Swedish PM is meeting Bush this month, so maybe that has something to do with it.

P.

[MaineDem]

3. Wasn't today some sort of "target" day in Baghdad?

I read that there was a one-day jihad against foreigners in Baghdad. I'm not awake enough yet to be fully certain however.

[James T. Kirk]

4. Sweden in Afghanistan

If I remember correctly, Sweden sent troops to fight alongside Americans in Afghanistan, and that may make them a target. I'm not sure if the Swedes are still there.

[Pert_UK]

5. Link to story:

"A rocket has been fired into the grounds of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, according to witnesses.

It is not known if anyone was hurt in the explosion, but it was reported that only an Iraqi security guard was in the building at the time of the blast.

The embassy has been closed since the first Gulf War in 1991. Sweden has been preparing to reopen it but a foreign ministry statement said the move was dependent on whether Iraq's security situation improves."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/19/uswede.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/04/19/ixportaltop.html

[Judi Lynn]

6. The timing in interesting

Their Prime Minister is due to visit Bush on April 28th.

(snip)
15-04-2004
Göran Persson to Meet George W Bush

Prime Minister Göran Persson will visit the United States April 27th - 28th.

On Tuesday, April 27th, Mr. Persson will, among other activities, accept the "Statesman of the Year Award" which will be presented to Anna Lindh posthumously by the East-West Institute.

On Wednesday, April 28th, the Prime Minister will meet with President George W Bush at the White House. Among other topics of discussion will be global challenges such as the situation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia and the Middle East, as well as the fight against HIV/AIDS and multilateral cooperation.

Göran Persson will also meet with other political leaders in both New York and Washington.
(snip/)

http://www.swedenabroad.se/pages/news____19402.asp

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You remember _Bush made his first trip away from North America to Sweden in April, 2001, and there were RIOTS!

Protests mark US President's visit to Sweden Thursday, June 14 2001
Filed at: 10:39 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gothenburg
Clashes between demonstrators and police
Violent clashes between riot police and protestors marked US President George W Bush's arrival in Gothenburg today. Swedish police arrested 243 demonstrators, and five police officers were injured in the protests. Riot police on foot and horseback clashed with about 200 protesters near a school in central Gothenburg, in which a number of protest groups had been staying, at lunchtime. The demonstrators climbed on the roof of the school and erected a red and black flag and attacked the police with cobblestones and bottles.
Many of the protesters were wearing face masks. Police charged at the demonstrators forcing them to retreat to a nearby park where clashes continued. About 12,000 protestors marched through Gothenburg and met in the central square later in the day. There were no reports of serious violence at the rally. Fifteen hundred police officers have been deployed to deal with the demonstrators.

Over 25,000 protestors from environmentalist, socialist, anarchist and human rights organisations are expected in the city to protest on a wide number of issues, including opposition to the death penalty, militarisation, globalisation and the destruction of the environment. Such a gathering would outnumber police by 25 to one. The security operation put in place for the meetings is the most ambitious undertaken by the country since the 1992 European football championships. Many of the protestors are anti-capitalists, whose protests shut down the world trade talks in Seattle at the end of 1999 and have taken place at a number of different internationa trade and political meetings since then.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2001/0614/uspres.html

June 14, 2001
Bush in Sweden to defend his rejection of Kyoto treaty
June 11: EU confident of surpassing Kyoto targets
June 11: Bush expands research of climate change
GOTEBORG, Sweden (AP) -- Despite expressing hope for better relations with Europe, President George W. Bush faced strong opposition Thursday over his rejection of a global warming treaty backed by most European countries, as well as mass protests by anti-globalization activists.

"We look forward to a constructive relationship," Bush said as he joined leaders of the 15 European Union countries at Gunnebo Slott, an 18th-century castle that sits atop a wooded hill 15 kilometres outside Goteborg.
(snip)

http://www.canoe.ca/AllAboutCanoesNewsJun01/14_bush-ap.html

ETC.

[JoFerret]

8. Thanks for that

...imagine how outraged they would be now.
My guess on the rocket is that we are all targets (all european. American non-Arab Asian) and there is no need to read specific meaning into the target. But - I actually have no clue. do any of us know what is going on there? Does anyone there?

[Stockholm]

7. The Swedish Embassy

in Baghdad has not been in use since 1990.

Many people in Sweden has pressured the Swedish foreign office to grant a Mr. Ibrahim Ali Suza a Swedish passport (and god dammit a medal) for his tireless service for 30 years.

He is the caretaker of the embassy and has on numerous occasions defended the embassy against looters etc.

Unfortunately, Anna Lindh was murdered and the cretin currently holding the foreign minister post is just a lazy career politician without any ideals.

I say, it´s time to bring out the emergency passports from WW2.

[Whoa_Nelly]

9. Story link

Rocket hits Swedish embassy in Iraq
Posted Mon, 19 Apr 2004

A mortar round hit the Swedish embassy grounds in Baghdad on Monday, but there were no casualties, police said.

"The mortar round exploded on the (embassy) grounds, destroying a wooden shack, but causing no injuries," said police Colonel Ihsan Gahtan outside the Swedish mission in central Baghdad.

Earlier another police officer, Abdallah Jabbar Bidan, reported an explosion inside the embassy.

<snip>
No Swedes were working at the embassy, the Swedish foreign ministry said.

http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/316860.htm

[David__77]

10. Why have an embassy in Iraq?

There is no government in Iraq, only an occupation. I don't see why to have an "embassy" for a dominion of the US, I presume they already have one in Washington DC.