While many Iraqis began returning to work, oil ministry employees were wondering why US forces, heavily guarding their offices, barred them from re-entering the building on Saturday. For most Baghdad residents life appeared to be edging towards normal as looting subsided, shops began to re-open and traffic picked up on city streets. US troops were seen directing many former state employees, including police and civil servants, back to work. But Massar Farouq, a telecommunications engineer from the oil ministry, said she did not understand why US troops prevented her from returning to work. âAll the employees are here, but as you can see, US forces are preventing us from entering the building,â she said.
| Hmmm... Probably something sinister! Prob'ly it's All About Oil™! Or they could be rooting through the records to see who got the illegal oil exports, but that's prob'ly not it... |
As many as 100 oil-industry employees loitered around the ministry complex, as soldiers stood guard behind barbed wire barriers. Unlike other state buildings, the Ministry of Oil escaped the bombing unscathed, and has been heavily guarded by American troops since invasion forces entered the capital. |