Posted on 03/25/2006 3:53:07 AM PST by FerdieMurphy
The Pentagon firmly believes that the Russian government gave Iraq President Saddam Hussein United States strategic war plans for the invasion of Iraq.
The Fox News Channel is reporting that the Pentagon believes the Russians had a "mole" in CentCom (US military's Central Command) who passed on secrets to the Russians who in turn passed on intelligence to Saddam's regime.
Documents confiscated by US forces after the Iraq invasion revealed communications between Russian government officials and the Iraqi military high-command before the March 2003 invasion by coalition forces. According to the Pentagon, the communications included handwritten notes.
According to a Moscow journalist, documents from Saddam Hussein’s leadership released by the US government reveal that the Russian ambassador to Iraq disclosed the US war plans to Saddam and his commanders.
Two documents dated March 2003, on the eve of the US-led invasion described details of the US military strategic and tactical plans.
One of the documents is a handwritten account of a meeting between the Russian ambassador Vladimir Teterenko and Iraqi military and diplomatic officials. The document details his description of the composition, size, location and type of US military forces arrayed in the Gulf and Jordan.
The document also includes the deployment numbers of tanks, armored vehicles, different types of aircraft, missiles, helicopters, aircraft carriers, and other forces and also their exact locations. The ambassador also described the positions of two Special Forces units, according to ABC News.
The second document is a typed account, signed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hammam Abdel Khaleq, which states that Teterenko told the Iraqis that "the United States was planning to deploy its force into Iraq from Basra in the South and up the Euphrates, and would avoid entering major cities on the way to Baghdad,"
According to Pentagon, this is exactly what happened. The documents also state that “Americans are also planning on taking control of the oil fields in Kirkuk.” The information was obtained by the Russians from “sources at U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar,” according to the document.
This document also includes an account of an incident in which several Iraqi Army officers (presumably seeking further elaboration of the US war plans) contacted the Russian Embassy in Baghdad and stated that the ambassador was their source. This caused great embarrassment to Teterenko, and the officers were instructed “not to mention the ambassador again in that context.”
Teterenko is mentioned in documents released by the Volker Commission, which investigated the Oil for Food scandal, as receiving allocations of 3 million barrels of oil — worth roughly $1.5 million.
While the recently released documents are being analyzed by several news organizations and intelligence think-tanks, there exists a classified version of the Pentagon report, titled "Iraqi Perspectives Project," which is not being released to the public.
These disclosures go far in explaining other events that have occurred in Iraq just prior to the invasion that toppled Saddam's regime. For example, sources have claimed that they saw plainclothes Russian military personnel helping with the transport of materials across the Iraq border into Syria. Several intelligence analysts have claimed some of the materials may have been chemical and/or biological weapons.
In addition, former Iraqi Air Force General, Georges Sada, has repeatedly claimed that the Russian military cooperated with Iraq in an advisory capacity and that the Russians were in Iraq right up to the time the invasion began.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also alarmed about the impact of foreign spies within the United States, especially Chinese and Russian operatives. The Russians have infiltrated both government and private sector organizations. The FBI are suspicious of Russia, Iran, and North Korea but have focused mostly on the Chinese. The feds estimate that the are over 2,600 Chinese front companies in the US.
These new disclosures, plus reports already reviewed, highlight the belief of many that Russia is not an ally or friend of the United States. As we pursue curtailing Iran's nuclear weapons program, Russia is the last country we should trust to broker a deal.
Shhhh!!! You're not supposed to point out contradictions like that! ;-)
Seriously, though, there's not necessarily a contradiction....he might have wanted them out to evade inspectors. But what it really points out yet again is that President Bush made a terrible error in highlighting the WMD reason for invasion when we had all the justification in UN resolutions/violations of ceasefire.
And if we just HAD to talk about WMD, we didn't have to chase phantoms--Iraq was KNOWN to have yellowcake and lowgrade uranium, monitored by inspectors--until Saddam stopped allowing the inspectors in.
My thoughts, too.
"the United States was planning to deploy its force into Iraq from Basra in the South and up the Euphrates, and would avoid entering major cities on the way to Baghdad,"(sic)Those wiley Americans! Who woulda guessed that plan! Evading cities, up Euphrates from Basra, take Kirkuk oil fields? Who woulda guessed THAT?
“Americans are also planning on taking control of the oil fields in Kirkuk.”
I think that the deployments and common sense made all of those very likely.
However, the classified report might give better reason to suspect the mole.
One has to wonder how much the inside information was used to foment and plot the "insurrection" that goes on hourly.
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