Posted on 03/25/2006 4:34:56 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
MOSCOW (AP) -
Russia's foreign spy agency denied Saturday that Moscow gave Saddam Hussein information on U.S. troop movements and plans during the invasion of Iraq, while analysts speculated the Pentagon claim was tied to a growing rift between the West and the Kremlin.
A Pentagon report Friday cited two captured Iraqi documents as saying Russia obtained information from sources "inside the American Central Command" in Qatar and passed battlefield intelligence to Saddam through the former Russian ambassador in Baghdad, Vladimir Titorenko.
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service dismissed the claims.
"Similar, baseless accusations concerning Russia's intelligence have been made more than once," agency spokesman Boris Labusov said. "We don't consider it necessary to comment on such fabrications."
Yevgenia Albats, a Moscow-based journalist who specializes in intelligence matters, said she suspected there was "at least a certain truth reflected in the Pentagon report," considering Russia's close relationship with the ousted Iraqi leader.
But she cautioned that didn't necessarily mean the Kremlin was involved.
"It is sometimes difficult to figure out whether certain steps were undertaken with the knowledge of top Russian authorities or whether those were steps undertaken by certain intelligence officers on their own," Albats told The Associated Press.
She also said the release of the Pentagon report probably had as much to do with the poor state of Russian-U.S. relations as their differences over the Iraq war, which along with other disputes have frayed a once promising partnership between Presidents Bush and Vladimir Putin that developed after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Albats noted the report appeared on the heels of Putin's trip last week to China, which added to U.S. unease over strengthening Moscow-Beijing ties. That development has caused Washington to recognize "it had lost whatever leverage it had over Russia," she said.
"It wasn't just another visit to China, it was a statement addressed to the United States," she added. "There is concern in Washington that China plus Russia, combined, will present a real problem for the United States."
A leading Russian Internet news agency, Gazeta.ru, speculated the Pentagon report was released to affect the U.N. Security Council debate on what to do about Iran's nuclear program as Russia and China are resisting U.S. and European demands for a tough stand.
"The leak about Russian spies in Doha can be interpreted as pressure on Moscow, which has taken a tough, principled position on the Iranian nuclear question," it said.
Sergei Oznobishchev, head of the Institute of Strategic Evaluations and Analyses, also tied the report to increasing U.S. distrust for Russia.
"They are irritated by Russia's strengthening position in the international arena and its foreign policy course," Oznobishchev was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
The Pentagon report wasn't the first to raise questions about Russian help for Saddam's regime at the time of the invasion in March 2003.
At the time, Gazeta.ru reported that two retired Russian generals visited Baghdad less than 10 days before the U.S.-led offensive and speculated they were advising the Iraqi military. The report showed photographs of them receiving medals from Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a newspaper believed at the time to have well-placed contacts in Russia's military and intelligence spheres, reported in March 2003 that Russian intelligence agents were holding daily meetings with Iraqi officials.
The U.S. administration accused Russian companies of shipping prohibited equipment, including anti-tank missiles, night-vision goggles and electronic jamming devices to Iraq, possibly via third countries. Moscow vehemently denied the allegations.
The unclassified Pentagon report did not assess the value or accuracy of the information Saddam got or offer details on Russia's information pipeline.
The Iraqi documents also left unclear who may have been the sources at Central Command's war-fighting headquarters, which is at Camp As Saliyah just outside Doha, the capital of Qatar. No Russians were authorized to be at the closely guarded base.
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On the Net: http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2006/pa032406.htm
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ping
Well, since no sane person would believe them no matter what they say [even if they were to recount the multiplication table], the most dignified position for them would be to shut their orifices and avoid stinking up the place.
Watch the vermin squirm as the (finally) newly released documents are translated at warp speed by the blogosphere. It's especially touching how the Left strives to avoid their impending annihilation by editorializing these revelations. The time for their honoring (of) themselves will soon be at an end.
They'd probably rather vote for battery cables attached to their 'nads.
No wonder McVain want's to shut down the Internet. The rulers can't afford to have WE The People actually aware of what is going on.
""It is sometimes difficult to figure out whether certain steps were undertaken with the knowledge of top Russian authorities or whether those were steps undertaken by certain intelligence officers on their own," Albats told The Associated Press."
Hogwash. This statement is simply providing the Russian government with cover.
I want THIS guy more than the Russians
and he's hardly the only leak we've got on our side.
Why do you REALLY think "W: had to go off the res to get unleaked intel?
"Russia has revealed itself to be a major part of the problem in the Middle East, and we should stop pretending that they are part of the solution."
For those who couldn't see the obvious truth earlier.
March 25, 2006
Iraqi Perspectives Project & the Saddam Fedayeen
***************************** AN EXCERPT ********************************
The reports of Russian cooperation with the regime in Baghdad and Iraq's intent to deploy suicide operatives in Europe come together in the days before the war in Iraq, when Russian President Vladamir Putin privately warned the Bush administration that Saddam Hussein was preparing suicide attacks against the United States and U.S. interests abroad.
"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.
Could it be that Russian intelligence had picked up on the Blessed July operation due to their close connections with the Hussein regime and the Iraqi intelligence services, and Putin felt compelled to offer a shadowy, non-specific warning to Bush in private?
Posted by C.S. Scott at March 25, 2006 03:51 AM
**************************
Prior to reading the unclassified 210-page Iraqi Perspectives Project: A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam's Senior Leadership, we commented earlier about the assistance the regime in Baghdad was recieving from the Russians, a charge that Moscow came out and denied on Saturday, calling it "groundless accusations."
Moscow based military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer described the reports of Russian assistance as "quite plausible" and added that "a unit affiliated with the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Department, known by its abbreviation GRU, was actively working in Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion of Iraq."
We used to call this plausible deniability. Standard practice.
Thanks for all the links on the thread.
And any student of biblical prophesy knows the Russia along with present day Turkey, Iran, and even possibly Iraq as well will launch an attack on Israel so this doesn't surprise me. It's just another reason to look up and count down.
And yet...
Like Clinton, the only way the Russians can surprise us is to tell the truth. This denial comes as no surprise, therefore it is obviously a damn lie.
Hey Ernest, you remember when one of the MSM stations did a story about missles and other things missing in Russia?
They actually showed corrugated steel buildings unguarded and the reporter was shown inside. I bet I can't find it. It was Nightline, 60 minutes or some hour long news show.
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