Pentagon: Russia Gave Saddam U.S. Intel
Release/Translation of Classified PreWar Docs ping. If you want to be added or removed to the ping list, please Freepmail me.
Please add the keyword prewardocs to any articles pertaining to this subject.
Posted on 03/24/2006 11:24:15 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
WASHINGTON - The Russian government provided Saddam Hussein with intelligence on U.S. military movements and plans during the opening days of the war in 2003, according to a Pentagon report released Friday.
The unclassified report does not assess the value of the information or provide details beyond citing an Iraqi document that says the battlefield intelligence was provided to Saddam through the Russian ambassador in Baghdad.
A classified version of the Pentagon report, titled "Iraqi Perspectives Project," is not being made public.
Whether by chance or design, one piece of Russian intelligence actually contributed to an important U.S. military deception effort. By telling Saddam that the main attack on Baghdad would not begin until the Army's 4th Infantry Division arrived around April 15, the Russians reinforced an impression that U.S. commanders were trying to create to catch the Iraqis by surprise.
The attack on Baghdad began well before the 4th Infantry arrived, and the Saddam regime collapsed quickly.
As originally planned by Gen. Tommy Franks, the Central Command chief who ran the war, the 4th Infantry was to attack into northern
Iraq from Turkey, but the Turkish government refused to go along. Meanwhile the 4th Infantry's tanks and other equipment remained on ships in the eastern Mediterranean for weeks — a problem that Franks sought to turn into an advantage by assaulting Baghdad without them.
Based on a captured Iraqi document — a memo to Saddam from his Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated April 2 — Russian intelligence reported through its ambassador that the American forces were moving to cut off Baghdad from the south, east and north, with the heaviest concentration of troops in the Karbala area. It said the Americans had 12,000 troops in the area, along with 1,000 vehicles.
In fact, Karbala was a major step on the U.S. invasion route along the Euphrates River to Baghdad. The Karbala assault was launched April 1. A key bridge over the Euphrates, near Karbala, was seized on April 2, permitting U.S. forces to approach Baghdad from the southwest before Iraq could move sufficient forces from the north.
The Pentagon report also said the Russians told the Iraqis that the Americans planned to concentrate on bombing in and around Baghdad, cutting the road to
Syria and Jordan and creating enough confusion to force Baghdad residents to flee.
The Pentagon report, designed to help U.S. officials understand in hindsight how Saddam and his military commanders prepared for and fought the war, paints a picture of an Iraqi regime blind to the threat it faced from the U.S. invaders, hamstrung by Saddam's inept military leadership and deceived by its own propaganda.
"The largest contributing factor to the complete defeat of Iraq's military forces was the continued interference by Saddam," the report said.
While Saddam disastrously miscalculated, the U.S. military also erred in areas beyond the well-known failure to realize that the Baghdad regime had no weapons of mass destruction, according to the 210-page report.
U.S. officials believed Iraq would set its oil wells on fire as part of a scorched-earth policy, and the invasion plan was constructed in ways meant to get U.S. troops to the southern oil wells before they could be torched.
The new report said, however, that while captured Iraqi documents show that there were plans made at the regional or local level to destroy the northern and southern oil wells, Saddam had expressly forbidden it.
Nice.
I'm sure this will be a minor story in our MSM.
They have bigger pressing stories. (sarcasm)
How can Russia be trusted to assist with a compromise or solution on Iran?
Repeat after me: Russia is not our friend; Russia is not our friend; Russia is not our friend.
Holy @#$% ping.
Sooner..or later..it may all come out...how our "allies" were subverting our attempt to make Saddam behave.
IFB, it is only a matter of time before a Congressman's name turns up in one of these released documents.
Sounds like the Russians were helping is out - no wonder Bush was so chummy with Putin after the invasion on Putin's trip to Washington.
What I find laughable is with such a 'wink-wink' line added in the people here are all upset and can't read between the lines. I guess Saddam was not the only one fooled by this feint.
Remember - Russia was also trying to negotiate into getting Saddam to step down and go into exile in Jordan and this was probably a way to scare him into going.
Putin also warned Bush about planned attacks on America by Saddam after 9/11.
"was Bush ever so naive ..."
Is the pope Catholic?
Sounds like the Russians were helping is out - no wonder Bush was so chummy with Putin after the invasion on Putin's trip to Washington.
What I find laughable is with such a 'wink-wink' line added in the people here are all upset and can't read between the lines. I guess Saddam was not the only one fooled by this feint.
Remember - Russia was also trying to negotiate into getting Saddam to step down and go into exile in Jordan and this was probably a way to scare him into going.
Putin also warned Bush about planned attacks on America by Saddam after 9/11.
At the same time, and unknown to the Israelis, the Soviet Union mounted a disinformation campaign pushing Egypt to join Syria against Israel. At that time, the Soviets were providing military and economic aid to both Syria and Egypt. On May 13, 1967 a Soviet parliamentary delegation visited Cairo and informed the Egyptian leaders that Israel had concentrated eleven to thirteen brigades along the Syrian border in preparation for an assault within a few days, with the intention of overthrowing the revolutionary Syrian Government. This was a complete fabrication designed by the Soviets to destabilize the Middle East. Similar false information may have been given to Egypt by the Soviets as early as May 2.
I am shocked to find Freepers as naive as Saddam's generals.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040622-085205-5477r.htm
Ignoring Putin's revelation
At a press conference on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an extraordinary statement that might explain why President Bush felt such a great sense of urgency about driving Saddam Hussein from power. Mr. Putin said that Iraq was planning some kind of attack against the United States. Unfortunately, the same major media that have erroneously suggested that the September 11 commission's report debunks any linkage between al Qaeda and Iraq have shown little interest in Mr. Putin's revelation.
----------------
Thanks again Russia!!
I still don't trust them. I prefer Reagan's strategery.
Pentagon: Russia Gave Saddam U.S. Intel
Release/Translation of Classified PreWar Docs ping. If you want to be added or removed to the ping list, please Freepmail me.
Please add the keyword prewardocs to any articles pertaining to this subject.
Do you pull stuff out of your *** because you hate Russia/Putin?
Some of us have a longer memory:
Putin urges voters to back Bush
"Russian President Vladimir Putin says terrorist attacks in Iraq are aimed at preventing the re-election of U.S. President George W. Bush and that a Bush defeat "could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of the world."
Looks like the Russians were HELPING us since their satellites could see our troop movements and thus could tell if this plan was true or not.
I am shocked to find Freepers as naive as Saddam's generals.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040622-085205-5477r.htm
Ignoring Putin's revelation
At a press conference on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an extraordinary statement that might explain why President Bush felt such a great sense of urgency about driving Saddam Hussein from power. Mr. Putin said that Iraq was planning some kind of attack against the United States. Unfortunately, the same major media that have erroneously suggested that the September 11 commission's report debunks any linkage between al Qaeda and Iraq have shown little interest in Mr. Putin's revelation.
----------------
Thanks again Russia!!
I just posted about this to you on another thread. genefromjersey first guessed at this in a thread he posted yesterday or today (days running together) ...
Perhaps the future planning for information in the Senate ought to include giving them bad information, so the leaks will help, rather than hurt, our war effort. When you are dealing with a sieve, pour in tainted water, and see where it runs out.
Congressman Billybob
Latest article: "2nd Report on the Campaign for the NC 11th District"
And W looked in his eyes and saw..........what?
Bush is a true BOZO...Now we have a story that Hutchinson Wampoa will inspect our cargoe in the Bahamas........
Maybe we should just give up now.
"Gee,I wonder why they would have done that! I wonder if they also might have had a motive (or a number of motives) to help Sadaam move/hide/destroy his WMDs."
I will tell you why. Let's say we found WMD's. How many did we find? Did we find them all? If not, where are they?
Would you rather have the RATS saying Iraq doesn't have them or would you rather have the RATS say Bush was responsible for releasing WMD's to the terrorists?
Bush had to make a choice. It really wouldn't suprise me if the US told Russia what it was doing so that they could move the WMD out of country before we went in. For Saddam, it didn't matter. He was being removed from power anyway.
It sort of makes sense since the Israelis told us where the WMD are, we saw the trucks leave the country. I refuse to believe that we didn't have a bird watching the convoys as they left Iraq.
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.