Only NAZIS do this kind of thing.

HABBARIYAH, Iraq - American troops in helicopters swooped down on this
remote sheepherding village in the desert and detained nearly all the
men, one as old as 81, one as young as 13. A month after the raid,
apparently aimed at preventing terrorists from slipping across the
border from Saudi Arabia, only two of the 79 captives have been freed.

The sweep - similar to those conducted in Afghanistan (news - web
sites) by U.S. special operations troops - came at a time when
American officials are concerned that foreign fighters, including
those loyal to Saudi exile Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), are
crossing into Iraq (news - web sites) to join the resistance against
the U.S.-led occupation.


The U.S.-appointed mayor of Habbariyah and its deputy police chief
believe the Americans rounded up so many men and boys to punish the
village because of suspicions it maintains contact with desert
smugglers or infiltrators from across the border, 80 miles away.


U.S. military officers refused to talk about the operation, but
knowledgeable American sources, speaking on condition of anonymity,
confirmed the basics of the account given to The Associated Press by
six villagers, including one who was detained and released.


Their description of what happened Sept. 10 offers the first details
of U.S. military operations in this border area as well as one of the
first looks at efforts to fight the influx of foreign insurgents as
the scope of guerrilla violence against American troops increases.


Villagers say they heard the whir of helicopters at dawn over
Habbariyah, a Bedouin enclave of 500 people clustered in an area about
the size of two football fields.


The village is in Anbar province, a third of Iraq's territory
stretching west, north and south from Baghdad to the borders with
Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan. U.S. soldiers come under daily attack
in the conservative, mostly Sunni Muslim province, a former stronghold
of support for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) that includes such
hotspots as Fallujah, Ramadi and Khaldiyah.


Over the next 10 hours, villagers say, U.S. troops rounded up men
including police, the elderly and teenagers. One woman also was
seized. All were restrained with plastic handcuffs and taken to one
house.


From there, U.S. troops loaded the captives onto the helicopters and
flew them to an air base north of the village.


The woman, the wife of a tribal leader, was released the next day. The
men were transported to the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad, once
used by Saddam to house political prisoners.


All but two remain there. Those released were 66-year-old tribal chief
Sheik Meta'ab al-Hathal and 81-year-old Hawas Sahn Ibrahim.


The sheik's nephew, Thamer Nayef al-Hathal, is the U.S.-appointed
mayor of Habbariyah and two nearby villages. He was away at the time
of the raid but heard about it from other villagers.


"Sheik Meta'ab was questioned about strangers in the area, a terrorist
camp the Americans think is in our area," said the mayor.


He also said the Americans searched every house and confiscated cash
and gold jewelry, used as currency among Bedouin, desert tribes with a
nomadic tradition.


The next day, the Americans, dressed in desert camouflage and carrying
semiautomatic weapons, came to the village the mayor was visiting.


He showed them a certificate from coalition authorities appointing him
mayor of three communities, including Habbariyah.


"They told my uncle that strangers visited the village, but he told
them the area was a vast desert and that he cannot know everything hat
happens there," the mayor said.

He quoted the soldiers as saying they were trying to trace the source
of a telephone call placed from the area. The only phone the mayor
knew of was his own satellite telephone.

"I gave it to them, they checked it, gave it back to me and then
retook it," he said. "They still have it."

The AP first learned of the raid on Habbariyah on Wednesday, after
Misha'al Khalaf, an 11-year-old from the nearby village of Kasra,
complained about detentions there. The day after the raid on
Habbariyah, U.S. forces came to Kasra and took nine people into
custody, including two of Khalaf's brothers.

"I want to send a letter to my brothers," the boy said, downcast and
close to tears.

Sahn Ibrahim, the 81-year-old man who was released, told AP he was
never questioned during nearly a month in prison. The only contact he
had with the Americans was through an interpreter when he gave his
personal details on arrival at Abu Ghraib.

When he was freed, he said, he was given money for transport back to
Habbariyah, about 250 miles by road.

"They treated us well and gave the young men soccer balls to play
with," he said, squatting on the carpeted floor of his reception room
with two grandchildren clamoring around him.

He said he was offered medical treatment in prison for a deep forehead
wound suffered years ago. He declined. "I did not want them to operate
on me while I was there alone without my children," he said.

The Sept. 10 raid was unusual in its scope and its methods. Soldiers
ordinarily conduct raids in Humvees or armored vehicles rather than
helicopters.

Yet concern about possible al-Qaida involvement in Iraq's violence has
increased, especially after recent suicide bombings in the capital.
Last week, the Arabic television station Al-Jazeera broadcast what it
said was an audiotape by bin Laden in which he praised Iraqi fighters
as "God's soldiers" and the "first line of defense" for Muslims.

On Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in
Iraq, said he believed al-Qaida and affiliated terror groups were
operating in the country although no known operatives were in custody.
He also said attacks on U.S. troops had increased to as many as 35 a
day.