  The luminous infrared-loud quasar IRAS 13349+2438 was observed with the
XMM-Newton Observatory as part of the Performance Verification program. The
spectrum obtained by the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) exhibits broad
(v ~ 1400 km/s FWHM) absorption lines from highly ionized elements including
hydrogen- and helium-like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and neon, and several iron
L-shell ions (Fe XVII - XX). Also shown in the spectrum is the first
astrophysical detection of a broad absorption feature around lambda = 16 - 17
Ang identified as an unresolved transition array (UTA) of 2p - 3d inner-shell
absorption by iron M-shell ions in a much cooler medium; a feature that might
be misidentified as an O VII edge when observed with moderate resolution
spectrometers. No absorption edges are clearly detected in the spectrum. We
demonstrate that the RGS spectrum of IRAS 13349+2438 exhibits absorption lines
from at least two distinct regions, one of which is tentatively associated with
the medium that produces the optical/UV reddening.
