Posted on 11/27/2005 1:47:48 PM PST by redvers llewellyn
WHY HAS THIS DAMNING REVELATION BEEN FORGOTTEN? _________________________________________________________
Russia Warned U.S. About Iraq, Putin Says
By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 19, 2004; Page A11
Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that his intelligence service had warned the Bush administration before the U.S. invasion of Iraq that Saddam Hussein's government was planning attacks against U.S. targets both inside and outside the country.
Putin, who opposed Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq, did not go into detail about the information that was forwarded, and said Russia had no evidence that Hussein was involved in any attacks.
"After Sept. 11, 2001, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, the Russian special services, the intelligence service, received information that officials from Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist attacks in the United States and outside it against the U.S. military and other interests," Putin said, according to RIA Novosti, the Russian news agency. "American President George Bush had an opportunity to personally thank the head of one of the Russian special services for this information, which he regarded as very important," the Russian president told an interviewer while in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Not good news for the Dims at all.
I remember this story well. It made the last page of my local paper, in the bottom right corner. The major media barely mentioned it. Hmm, I wonder why.
Doesn't fit agenda?
Apparently not. Its old news. Happened last year. The media all but ignored it.
Putin lied. People died.
The headline maybe true, but I think Putie would love to have the USA enter their own Soviet version of the Afghanistan war, whether or not he had intelligence. Sometime information is really misinformation.
Putin manipulated this pre war intelligence
They will try to bury it.
Yes, I always rely on warnings issued by ex-Colonels of the KGB. Yesiree, I certainly do.
Preemptive strikes against Iraq are evil, unless they are done by Bill Clinton in retaliation for an assassination plot against Bush41 (that never came about).
Hannity mentioned this story a few times on his radio show, but it didn't fit into the MSM's political agenda and therefore the MSM ignored the story. Curiously, the MSM also wonders why most of the public considers them to be biased.
I understand why the MSM would try to ignore it, but why wouldn't the Conservatives trumpet it? Why wouldn't the Administration claim "smoking gun?"
How quickly they forget. Isn't it Pinkus who is running all over screaming about there being no WMDs?
The dimwits will dismiss it. Remember, if reality does not fit their agendas, they simply re-invent it.
That's a good point. While I don't think Putin was trying to set us up in this case, Putin's warnings were just one piece of information that would have to be analyzed along with all the other intelligence before any action was taken by the President.
Bump - Hey Republican leaders, get out in front with this after the recess!
That I don't know. It did create quite a stir on this site when it happened, but its a story that, for the most part, faded away quickly.
The Bush Admin was wise not to call this a "smoking gun", because the President can't make a decision about war based on intelligence from only one source. If we had two or three other countries going public with the same information, including a NATO ally, then Bush could push this harder. We may have had similar intelligence from other countries that was not made public. It's interesting that Putin made a public statement about this information.
Putin was in bed with the Iraqis. He, unlike us, had real spies on the ground there. We had Cahlabi and company. I wouldn't dismiss it so lightly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.