Posted on 10/28/2004 6:34:02 AM PDT by bobsunshine
October 27, 2004 Explosives: A Shocking New Russian Wrinkle
(Flashback - That Russian Convoy) Where are the IAEA's missing explosives, along with other elements of Saddam's WMD program? It seems that the Russians might know:
Russian special forces troops moved many of Saddam Hussein's weapons and related goods out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military operation, The Washington Times has learned.
John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said in an interview that he believes the Russian troops, working with Iraqi intelligence, "almost certainly" removed the high-explosive material that went missing from the Al-Qaqaa facility, south of Baghdad.
"The Russians brought in, just before the war got started, a whole series of military units," Mr. Shaw said. "Their main job was to shred all evidence of any of the contractual arrangements they had with the Iraqis. The others were transportation units." ... The Russian arms-removal program was initiated after Yevgeny Primakov, the former Russian intelligence chief, could not convince Saddam to give in to U.S. and Western demands, this official said.
A small portion of Iraq's 650,000 tons to 1 million tons of conventional arms that were found after the war were looted after the U.S.-led invasion, Mr. Shaw said. Russia was Iraq's largest foreign supplier of weaponry, he said.
This gels with the previous assessment of a suspicious Russian presence in Iraq before and during the war, along with dubious Russian denials of any previous violation of UN sanctions:
March 24, 2003
Tensions increase between the United States and Russia. The United States charged the Russians of supposed deliveries of Russian weapons in Iraq. The spokesman of the American President, Ari Fleischer, rejected denials of Moscow and assured that Washington has "evidence" of these deliveries, which could give the Iraqis invaluable assets against the Anglo-American forces. Devices listed are binoculars for night vision, GPS units, and anti-tank missiles.
If they hid the conventional explosives, they certainly would hide the WMD.
There was an excellent thread on this last night.
MSNBC BREAKING NEWS: RUSSIANS MOVED EXPLOSIVES (Saw it on MSNBC Scarborough Country)
MSNBC with added Washington Times Link ^
Posted on 10/27/2004 7:58:47 PM PDT by MichaelTN04
Just saw on MSNBC Scarborough Country, Pat Buchanan said that the Wash Times is set to report that Russian Troops helped move the explosives and weapons to Syria before the invasion...
*******Washington Times Link
Ooops. The link got dropped. Here is the link with my reply:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1259507/posts
MSNBC BREAKING NEWS: RUSSIANS MOVED EXPLOSIVES (Saw it on MSNBC Scarborough Country)
MSNBC with added Washington Times Link ^
Posted on 10/27/2004 7:58:47 PM PDT by MichaelTN04
Just saw on MSNBC Scarborough Country, Pat Buchanan said that the Wash Times is set to report that Russian Troops helped move the explosives and weapons to Syria before the invasion...
*******Washington Times Link
uh oh......shame on pooty poo....
Kerry, How's the egg on the face and crow breakfast taste?
Actually, that may have been one of the few good things that Pootie Poo did.
If he hadn't got that stuff out of Iraq, it may have been used on our troops.
Where was Kerry when this happened?
I have the feeling that today I'll take some perverse pleasure in quoting Dr Rice's word "Forgive Russia, ignore Germany, punish France".
It's only a matter of time that some FReeper makes a graphic for that statement.
It looks like Russia may have helped soddom move WMD to Syria and other nations. I would bet the President and our intelligence service knows all about this.
So the question is why have they not released sattelite photos and other info we have to prove this.
I have a feeling that Russia and China play a very large part in the WOT and they are not on our side.
Not only that, but it takes a while to go over from being enemies to being allies. Russia was a long-time supporter of Saddam.
Plus, whatever Putin has done against our interests in the last ten years or so pales in comparison to what clinton did against Russia's interests in Yugoslavia. Clinton deeply offended and shamed the Russians there, and you can be sure they will bear the grudge for a long time.
Despite these glitches, the U.S. and Russia now have basic interests in common, most notably the threat of militant Islam and the potential threat of China. We need to work together as well as we can.
"Whatever Putin has done against our interests in the last ten years or so pales in comparison to what clinton did against Russia's interests in Yugoslavia. Clinton deeply offended and shamed the Russians there, and you can be sure they will bear the grudge for a long time."
You can bet that the Russian intel has been monitoring every foriegn contact that Kerry has had in the last year. It is safe bet that Kerry would be buddies with the Islamofascists in the areas surrounding Russia. That would be a disaster for Russia.
Exactly the point Dick Morris made on H&C last night. He thought Kerry was a total idiot for turning the focus of his campaign to areas where Bush was strong, rather than areas where Bush was weak.
Not only am I sure you're right, but I believe that the Administration waited far too long into this election before they decided to let the rest of us in on this. What's more, it's a very safe bet that the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee knew about this, and the Democrats would loathe to bring up the subjects of WMD and "missing explosives" issue if the Administration had leaked this information much earlier in the campaign.
I know that we will still have to deal with the Russians (and the French and Germans) after November 2, but this reminds me of when Eisenhower and Nixon allowed John Kennedy to turn a phony "missile gap" charge into political gold, rather than to risk sensitive intelligence sources by simply saying that our intelligence agencies knew that JFK's charges were bogus.
Why would Iraqi goverment allow the removal of its weapons before the war? It does not make much sense. Or maybe it was a covert sabotage to help US?
; )
this may be one of the greatest october surprises ever
Exactly. Some people miss this point.
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