Comment: This is what the Iraqi national service is worried about? What they're spending their time on? And U.S. Armed Forces & Intelligence Officers are putting their lives on the line for the sixth year running?
Martin Chulov in Baghdad
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 May 2009 23.26 BST
Iraq's national intelligence service has launched a court action to sue the Guardian, claiming to have been defamed by a story that characterised the regime of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki as increasingly autocratic.
The story, by award-winning correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, was published in April, when the Iraqi leader was in London on an investment drive. It included interviews with three unnamed members of the Iraqi national intelligence service (INIS), who said elements of Maliki's rule resembled a dictatorship.
Maliki called for legal action to be launched on his return to Iraq and the ostensibly independent INIS filed a writ demanding $1m in damages for what it said was a "false and defamatory" report.
The INIS also demanded that Abdul-Ahad reveal the identity of the agents who spoke to him, which the Guardian has refused to do.
The Iraqi government initially ordered the paper's Baghdad bureau to be closed, but has backed away from that threat.
The Guardian is standing by the story and has retained an Iraqi lawyer to contest the charges. Alan Rusbridger, editor in chief, said: "We are disappointed that prime minister Maliki has launched this misguided action against the Guardian. We will, of course, contest it."
The case was postponed until 23 June.
Staff of Iraq's interior ministry, meanwhile, are suing the New York Times over a report that 35 of them had been sacked.
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The Prime Minister's actions after the allegations show the signs of a dictator. I haven't been a fan of this guy since he started criticizing the US operations in Iraq. We earn him the freedom of speech for him to turn around and point fingers at our guys. Who has been defamed more?
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