BAGHDAD, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The head of Iraq's national archive said on Saturday he feared for the country's priceless collection of historical documents after Iraqi soldiers occupied the roof of his building and threatened his staff. Saad Eskander, Director of the National Library and Archive, said Iraqi soldiers had arrived this week, smashing windows, threatening staff and occupying a position on the roof for two days during a curfew imposed during a Shi'ite pilgrimage. The archive holds more than 700,000 books and millions of documents from the Ottoman and British colonial periods of Iraq's history. So far it has been spared the looting that struck other troves of historical treasures in the country. But Eskander complained that Iraqi forces were making the building a target by occupying the roof. "They walked into the national library and smashed doors and windows. They promised to return and arrest me and my staff," he said of the Iraqi forces, who arrived on Wednesday and withdrew from the building on Friday, threatening to return. Iraqi Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari denied that the Iraqi army was involved in any incident at the archive. The U.S. military also said it was not involved. Eskander feared militants would "think I cooperated with the National Guard and I invited them to go onto the top of the building," leaving it open to attack, he said, and also worried about the Iraqi troops themselves. "My fear is that an incident will happen and these people will loot the national library, especially when they see hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of machines in the building," he told Reuters. "We are not part of this communal violence," he said. "The collection is very important historically for Iraqis. The national archive represents the historical memory of modern Iraq. By destroying the national archive you will destroy the memory of Iraq."
