LA Times : Russians Told Iraqi Regime of U.S. Troop Movements

Los Angeles Times ^ | March 25, 2006 | By Peter Spiegel and Greg Miller, Times Staff Writers

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

WASHINGTON — Russian diplomats passed detailed but sometimes inaccurate information about American troop movements to senior Iraqi officials even as U.S. troops closed in on Baghdad during the 2003 invasion, according to a Pentagon study released Friday.

The revelations, based on captured Iraqi intelligence documents, could jeopardize U.S.-Russian relations more than any single event since the end of the Cold War, analysts said. Although they cautioned that Moscow might have an explanation, the analysts said some of the details were so sensitive that they would be difficult for the government of President Vladimir V. Putin to justify.

One of the documents, which purports to be a summary of a letter sent to Saddam Hussein's office by a Russian official, claimed that Moscow had "sources inside the American Central Command in Doha," the U.S. military's headquarters in Qatar during the war.

[ChadGore]

This is why we should never allow the coalition to define the mission.

[ChadGore]

Re either came from breaking into their network, or by a human source.

I Disagree.

1) General Tommy Franks said in his 2004 book, American Soldier, that CENTCOM had a very active disinformation team that produced old, outdated, and mocked up data.

2) We know other nations can use commercial and government Sat images to identify our troops, so it is in our interest to provide a false narrative to the data before them.

3) Iraq was not able to use this data to effect any meaningful military counterattack. In fact, they did not display a single military significant maneuver during their pitiful defense.

[garylmoore]

Let's face it, Russia is an evil empire and so is China.

[Lancey Howard]

Russian diplomats passed detailed but sometimes inaccurate information

Ha! That's cool.
Bush obviously asked Putin to help with this basic war tactic, the misinformation ploy. Nice to see the Russians lent us a hand.
It worked, that's for sure.

[Paleo Conservative]

And they still couldn't do anything to stop the US.

[starbase]

The reality is that the anti-Americanism is really all about geopolitics, international oil politics and the envy of our 'hyper power' status.

Yes, especially envy. I could tell you a hundred stories of conversations I had with Europeans recently in Thailand, but on one occasion I was talking with a young guy from somewhere in central Europe.

I touched a few times on our vast military superiority and got no real reaction, but then when I said "And we're so much richer than your countries.." he sat up and sneered hatefully "I am not care about your MONEY!". Really struck a nerve. I giggled my butt off. The money is what really eats them alive.

[Atlantic Bridge]

That lasted like two f&*king minutes until we wanted to invade Iraq and then the Germans staretd crying like a bunch of bitches...probably because they were swinging from Saddam's nutsack.

Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. We helped and still help with our (of course limited - Germany is a small country) means in Afghanistan.

Personally I regret the stance of most of my compatriots on Iraq since I believe it was nessecary to get rid of Saddam Hussein because he was simply a man-eater. On the other hand there is obviously no connection between him and 9/11. I am well aware that some people in your country try to construct a alliance between him and Bin Laden. Anyway this is rather unlikely to me and nobody has given a conclusive proof for this predication so far. Therefore Iraq is for sure a party we Germans are not obligated to dance on.

Why?

The alliance that connects our countries, the NATO, is only restricted to defensive actions. You just have to read Article V of the NATO Treaty. To fulfill its duties Germany helped and helps the US in Afghanistan after 9/11 because the war there was and is a defensive action:

http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom1/CoalitionPages/Germany.htm

If Saddam Hussein would have attacked the US or any other of our allies directly we would have helped with everything we have. Defensive help and actions are not the question. This much is for sure.

But... ...Saddam Hussein did not attack you - he was attacked. The preemptive strike of the US in Iraq is something that is offensive. Offensive wars are strictly forbidden in the German constitution, the so called "Grundgesetz". Besides of this legal problem there was absolutely no majority among the German people to support offensive actions. Nobody in my country believed in large amounts of WMDs or that Saddam Hussein was a eminent danger to Germany or the US. He was a danger to Israel, but this is also a different party. Since our gouvernment is (like it should be in every other democracy) a instrument of its voters, it was clear that it was never possible for our country to take part in a American "alliance of the willing". José Maria Aznar is a tragic example for what happens to those who ignore openly the will of their people.

As I already said personally I would have appreciated a German contribution to the Iraq war. Not because of some WMDs that never have been found, but because of the fact that there was a bloody dictator that slaughtered ruthlessly his own people. But... ...I would have only supported this if there would have been a majority of my compatriots to support this war just like I do. This was definitly not the case. To me our working democracy is much more important than to join into a war that was not really nessecary to our own or the security of our allies.

[WideGlide]

The Commander-in-Chief is taken for a ride by his good friend Vladie Pootin.

[Kimberly GG]

Yes, Finally they have.....but why is THIS the only information from the documents they are focused on? I wonder why none of the information that would attack the whole "Bush Lied" mantra is simply being ignored, except for a few small reports/interviews on Fox. Is it because they haven't figured out yet how to spin it to the left's advantage?

[gaspar]

The problem with our relationship with Russia is not simply George Bush and his pootie-poot, but Condoleeza Rice and the CSIS and Brookings crowd who believe that detente with Russia -- an oriental despotism -- actually works.

[steel_resolve]

Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. They were spirited out of the country and are most likely in the Bekka Valley in Syria. I don't care whether or not you believe this. FACTS are coming to light that support this view. Saddam's general recently wrote a book about it. But you will ignore all this because it doesn't fit your oil/Halliburton/revenge/whatever conspiracy theories. Also, Saddam had connections to Al Quaeda. Again, I care not whether you believe this, but more and more documents are coming to light that paint this picture very distinctly. See the problem is that your pacifist socialist nanny state has drained you and your countrymen of any ability to see a gathering threat, and moreover to do a damn thing about it. (HELLO IRAN? NUKES? HELLO?). I am sure This is probably our fault as we provided for Western Europe's security for the last 50 years. This allowed you to grow your welfare state and sneer at the cowboy Americans and their warmongering ways. That's fine. We'll goon being the cowboys and eliminating threats before they show up in our ports or our cities and you keep sitting there mouthing garbage like "Saddam didn't attack you" and "NATO is defensive only". We already know what side your country and people like you stand on. Thankfully there are places like Australia and England that took their head out of their ass and realized that threats must be eliminated before they are allowed to destroy our way of life. Germans - Freeloaders.

[hdstmf]

1) General Tommy Franks said in his 2004 book, American Soldier, that CENTCOM had a very active disinformation team that produced old, outdated, and mocked up data.

2) We know other nations can use commercial and government Sat images to identify our troops, so it is in our interest to provide a false narrative to the data before them.

3) Iraq was not able to use this data to effect any meaningful military counterattack. In fact, they did not display a single military significant maneuver during their pitiful defense.
__________________________________________________________

Don't miss the point. Whether info was disinfo, outdated or not effectively used by Iraq is not relevant. It was obtained and passed on by the Russians. Add revelations of the "Oil for food" program and we see how Russians worked against American interest. It proves we cannot trust Russia to act any different with the developing problems with Iran.

[hdstmf]

STFU

[listenhillary]

You have room for 10 million French refugees? You might need to plan for it.

We would not be in Iraq today if Saddam Hussein had not invaded Kuwait.
We would not be in Iraq if Hussein had not violated 17 United Nations resolutions.
We would not be in Iraq if Hussein had not violated the cease-fire he signed after he lost the first war.
We would not be in Iraq if Hussein had allowed the weapons inspectors to do their job.
If we were misled, we were misled by Saddam Hussein, who acted like he had weapons.
Saddam Hussein is solely responsible for the invasion of Iraq, not President Bush.
We would not be in Iraq today if the United Naions had not vacillated and failed to hold Iraq accountable and enforced their resolutions.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

On the other hand there is obviously no connection between him and 9/11.

You really believe that?

No connection of any kind?

The airplane at Salman Pak, just happened to land there?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Just came across this:

Terrorist made calls to Syria.....from the USA...in 1999

*******************************************

	Posted on Thu, Mar. 23, 2006
	Terrorist made calls to Syria Albany Times Union ALBANY, N.Y. - The spiritual leader of an Albany mosque repeatedly called a phone number in Syria that an FBI report indicates had been used to gather terrorist intelligence for Osama bin Laden, according to classified documents unsealed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The FBI report, which was based on information from a confidential informant, was among several once-secret documents that federal authorities say raise questions about Yassin Aref's connections to terrorist organizations across the Middle East. Aref, 35, a Kurdish refugee who moved to Albany with his family in 1999, is in jail without bond while awaiting trial on charges related to an FBI counterterrorism sting. He has denied any connections to terrorism. But federal authorities paint him as an intelligent religious scholar with strong ties to some terrorists. The FBI report is undated and heavily redacted. It states that an informant told the FBI that during October 2001 he was approached by someone soliciting intelligence about "flight training schools, access to airports in (redacted)" and information about "how close the individual could get to an aircraft." The informant said he was instructed that any information could be distributed to "brothers" through two phone numbers in Damascus, Syria. One of the numbers was called repeatedly by Aref from his Albany home.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Guess he came to this country in 1999, calls made in 2001.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Hattip to the ThreatsWatch Blog for the Grand Forks article on the Imman in Albany NY.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And from the Gateway Pundit Blog:

Saturday, March 25, 2006
Ouch! Photos Show Iraqi & Russian Defense Reps Days Before War!

***************AN EXCERPT ***************************

Russia's UN mission spokesman blasted the Pentagon report released on Friday. The Pentagon report was based on documents taken from Iraq after the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime. One translated memo addressed to a Saddam secretary from the Russian Ambassador to Iraq details US military plans on the eve of the War in Iraq...

But, it will be difficult for the Russians to slam photos of Russian military officials receiving awards from Saddam's Defense Minister for assisting the regime days before the startup to the war.


Col. Gen. Vladimir Achalov and Col. Gen. Igor Maltsev, both former high-ranking officers involved in Soviet rapid-reaction and air defense forces are seen at an awards ceremony with Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed in early March 2003, less than 10 days before the start of the war.
(Gazeta)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From PajamasMedia Blog:

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PJM SPECIAL COVERAGE

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SADDAM DOCUMENT PROJECT: IRAQFILES

The Pentagon is releasing many never before seen Saddam era documents and media. A large number of these are still in the original Arabic. The hope is that the blogosphere will help translate. At our new IRAQFILES blog PJM will monitor and post the growing number of translations from an Army of Translators of these documents and media. The first two, of the same document, are here (by Iraq the Model) and here. Others are being posted (with analysis) at the IRAQFILES.

IMPORTANT: As new documents are posted on the Pentagon site, please send your translations from the Arabic and analyses to the following email: iraq dash-sign translations at-sign pajamasmedia dot-character com. Please type "Translation Project" in the subject line.

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