IRAQ Group grabs 2 Americans and 1 Briton

The U.N. secretary general said the American-led invasion of Iraq was illegal.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Gunmen abducted two Americans and a Briton in a brazen attack today on a residence in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood housing many embassies and foreign companies.
The three, all employees of Gulf Services Co., a Middle East-based construction business, were seized from a two-story house surrounded by a wall in the al-Mansour neighborhood, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, an Interior Ministry official.
U.S. troops fanned out across the neighborhood to investigate the latest in a wave of kidnappings in Iraq. Hundreds of foreigners have been abducted and many of them executed by insurgents seeking to drive out U.S.-allied troops and deter foreign companies from working in Iraq's reconstruction.
8 Westerners held
The abductions bring to eight the number of Westerners currently held hostage in Iraq. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy identified the Americans as Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong but gave no ages or hometowns. Britain's foreign office did not identify the third hostage but said it was identifying the person's relatives.
At dawn, about 10 assailants pulled up on the tree-lined street in a minivan and snatched the three without firing a shot, said Abdul-Rahman. A car was also missing from their house, he added.
A neighbor who gave his name as Majid, 23, said he left his house around 6 a.m. during a power outage to switch on a generator.
"I noticed unusual movement in the garage. I heard voices that sounded like someone was trying to drag somebody else," he said. "I was frightened and left the area, but when I came back to the foreigners' house I saw that the outer gate was open and the foreigners' car had gone."
Another witness, 19-year-old Ziad Tareq, said he was walking down the street when he saw a man dressed in black, his face covered with a red scarf, dragging one of the hostages by the collar and pushing him into a car parked outside the house.
Prominent neighborhood
Several foreign embassies, contracting and security companies and many prominent Iraqi politicians are based in the al-Mansour neighborhood, which is normally teeming with security guards. It was not immediately clear whether the three were guards themselves or involved in reconstruction projects.
Iraq's 17-month insurgency and campaign of abductions and executions has created a seige-like mentality among the country's dwindling international community.
Foreign businesses, aid groups and news organizations have hired armed guards in bulletproof vests and built blast walls around their compounds to protect against the daily onslaught of mortars, car bombs and other violence. Security checkpoints have increased in the capital and many roads have been blocked off, frustrating city drivers with gridlock.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Wednesday that he feared the continued insecurity in Iraq -- including a surge in attacks that has killed more than 200 people since last weekend -- would block elections slated for January.
'Illegal' decision by Bush
He also reiterated his judgment that the American-led attack on Iraq, conducted without U.N. approval, was a violation of the U.N. charter. "From our point of view and the [U.N.] charter point of view it was illegal," Annan said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp.
U.S. allies Britain and Australia rejected Annan's claim. Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman reminded reporters that Britain's attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, had found before the war that Britain was acting legally, citing three U.N. resolutions he said justified the use of force against the Saddam Hussein regime.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard -- a staunch U.S. supporter who defied widespread public anger to participate in the invasion -- also dismissed claims that the military action violated international law.
"There had been a series of Security Council resolutions and the advice we had [was] that it was entirely legal," Howard told Perth radio station 6PR.
France, which led the opposition to the war, steered clear of the debate today.
Asked to respond to Annan's comments, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said simply: "You know our position."
"We had the opportunity at the time to express ourselves very clearly," Ladsous said.
Doesn't agree
British Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said she also disagreed with Annan.
"There have always been different views on that matter and ... of course I respect his views on this matter and I regret that we disagree with them," Hewitt told BBC radio, adding the important thing now was to help Iraqis achieve "a safe, secure, democratic Iraq."
Japan's top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, said his country, also a U.S. supporter in Iraq, would seek clarification about Annan's remarks.