Posted on 04/20/2003 10:45:18 PM PDT by AmericanAge
Looks like the Cold War ended too soon :P Apparently the Russians spied on Bush and Blair and relayed their plans for with the inspection teams to Iraq.
Russia briefed Iraq on US tactics to justify invasion
By David Harrison in Baghdad April 21 2003
Russian agents reported to Iraq that the US President, George Bush, hoped to justify war by provoking a conflict with United Nations weapons inspectors, according to Iraqi intelligence documents.
The documents were found in the smoking ruins of the headquarters of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in Baghdad and showed that only months before war began, the Russian Federal Security Bureau briefed Saddam that the White House was pinning its hopes on Iraq obstructing the weapons inspection teams.
The information, which appears to draw on intelligence from Russian agents and diplomats around the world, is likely to have helped Saddam formulate his strategy of "hide and seek" with weapons inspectors, rather than obstruct them openly as he had done during previous inspections.
In a report dated November 13, 2002, the Russian security bureau informed its Iraqi counterpart that the US had launched a two-month propaganda campaign to win public support for the war.
The report said that Washington felt two months would be long enough to cause a breakdown in relations between the UN teams and Iraq, making it impossible for inspections to continue.
The US believed it would then be able to accuse Iraq of breaking agreements and so justify military action against Saddam, according to the report.
The revelations follow recent claims that the Russian intelligence services spied on the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, during private meetings with Western leaders to discuss the war. According to Iraqi intelligence documents, the information gathered was then passed on to Baghdad.
The Russian report on President Bush is headed: "Propaganda to secure a United States military operation against Iraq." An Iraqi intelligence officer attached a note to the report saying: "We will ... take it to the president."
The report says: "The Bush Administration has taken a decision to make a more active information and propaganda campaign to secure military action against Iraq.
"The White House has ordered the relevant departments to increase activities to acquire and make public any [including circumstantial and fabricated] 'proofs, testimonies and facts' which reveal direct links between Baghdad and international terrorists and its eagerness to possess weapons of mass destruction."
It adds that American embassies were already informing managers of mass media loyal to the US. The Moscow intelligence service told the Iraqis the Bush Administration would continue the propaganda campaign for up to two months.
"In Washington they think that during this period they will manage to provoke a conflict between the UN inspectors and Iraqi authorities ... to accuse Iraq of breaking agreements and to open the way to a military operation against Baghdad."
Separate documents suggest Germany's intelligence services attempted to build closer links to Saddam's secret service during the build-up to war. The Iraqis reportedly offered to give lucrative contracts to German companies if the German Government helped to prevent a US invasion.
The Telegraph, London
(Excerpt) Read more at smh.com.au ...
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