Did Russian Ambassador Give Saddam the U.S. War Plan?

ABC News ^ | 03/23/2006 | Unknown

[Starman417]

March 23, 2006 — Following are the ABC News Investigative Unit's summaries of five documents from Saddam Hussein's government, which the U.S. government has released.

The documents discuss Osama bin Laden, weapons of mass destruction, al Qaeda and more.

The full documents can be found on the U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Office Web site:

http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm.

Note: Document titles were added by ABC News.

"U.S. War Plan Leaked to Iraqis by Russian Ambassador"

Documents dated March 5-8, 2003

Two Iraqi documents dated in March 2003 — on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion — and addressed to the secretary of Saddam Hussein, describe details of a U.S. plan for war. According to the documents, the plan was disclosed to the Iraqis by the Russian ambassador.

The first document (CMPC-2003-001950) is a handwritten account of a meeting with the Russian ambassador that details his description of the composition, size, location and type of U.S. military forces arrayed in the Gulf and Jordan. The document includes the exact numbers of tanks, armored vehicles, different types of aircraft, missiles, helicopters, aircraft carriers, and other forces, and also includes their exact locations. The ambassador also described the positions of two Special Forces units.

The second document (CMPC-2004-001117) is a typed account, signed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hammam Abdel Khaleq, that states that the Russian ambassador has 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, which is, in fact what happened. The documents also state "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 amusing incident in which several Iraqi Army officers (presumably seeking further elaboration of the U.S. war plans) contacted the Russian Embassy in Baghdad and stated that the ambassador was their source. Needless to say, this caused great embarrassment to the ambassador, and the officers were instructed "not to mention the ambassador again in that context."

(Editor's Note: The Russian ambassador in March 2003 was Vladimir Teterenko. Teterenko appears 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. )

[Lunatic Fringe]

Oh, OK, kind of like a stock option plan...

[romanesq]

I was waiting to see if someone would recall the Russian convoy shot up.
Now we know they had good reason to do it although we don't know the complete picture.

Can we get a Russian apologist in the house? Say A. Pole.

[ncpatriot]

He did make that trip to Arab world just prior to the Iraq invasion.

[Rockitz]

The most faithful defender of Communist Russia has arrived. Certainly you can come up with a better defense than this?

The truth is that the Cold War never ended- it's just being waged by proxy now. It was a ploy by the communists to get badly needed western capital to rebuild their infrastructure and military and if you've been paying attention you know they have a new stealth diesel-electric submarine, a new mobile ballistic missile, a super cavitating torpedo, and a new fighter coming in 2007. Every time they have an opportunity to take a pound of flesh from the US, they do.

[romanesq]

You forgot Ukraine on the list. Although not every country can continue to contibute for a variety of reasons, the only traitor that comes to mind on the list is Spain.

I say that more in sadness than anger.

[ko_kyi]

Curiouser and curiouser ...

Sort of evokes memories of the Chinese embassy in Serbia, which was accidentally bombed shortly after some Chinese made anti-JDAM devices started transmitting.

I wonder how far in advance the apology was written for accidentally whacking Titorenko.

[AD from SpringBay]

If he did, it didn't help much. You know you have crap for an army when you have the enemy plan and still lose big.

[GarySpFc]

The most faithful defender of Communist Russia has arrived. Certainly you can come up with a better defense than this?

Firstly, I am not defending Russia or this event. I simply want to see the evidence, not what some amatuer posters have to say, and that is why I am seeking an American military translator, and see his translation from the documents in Russian. For some reason I do not trust ABC or my limited Russian, and I certainly have little faith in the childish games played by conspiracy theorists. If after examing the evidence I see Russia is guilty I will strongly condemn them.

Secondly, it may be too much to call Russia and ally, but they are strongly helping us in the GWOT in ways you are not aware. Furthermore, it is the high point of stupidity to call Russia communist, and even Condi Rice denies they are anything resembling the Soviet Union.

The truth is that the Cold War never ended- it's just being waged by proxy now. It was a ploy by the communists to get badly needed western capital to rebuild their infrastructure and military and if you've been paying attention you know they have a new stealth diesel-electric submarine, a new mobile ballistic missile, a super cavitating torpedo, and a new fighter coming in 2007. Every time they have an opportunity to take a pound of flesh from the US, they do.

You certainly have far more faith in Russia's military capability than I do. Indeed, your fear sounds more like faith. Frankly, I have far more faith in the American military to handle Russia and China combined than I do in these two second rate powers.

[Rockitz]

If after examing the evidence I see Russia is guilty I will strongly condemn them.

That will be a first.

Secondly, it may be too much to call Russia and ally, but they are strongly helping us in the GWOT in ways you are not aware.

Russia does nothing that is not in the interest of Russia. If they are helping us in the GWOT it's because there are terrosits organizations out there that they don't have their hooks in and are as concerned as we are about them.

Furthermore, it is the high point of stupidity to call Russia communist,...

And just how difficult would it be for Russia to return to a socialist dictatorship? Hugo Chavez seems to have done this in pretty short order (elected in 1998) and is in the midst of seizing property. Do you really think Chavez will relinquish power at the end of his term as president? Why couldn't Putin or any subsequent Russian leader do the same? All of the Russian intelligence agencies are still in place. That's not stupid, it's prudent. I'm paid very well to be prudent.

You certainly have far more faith in Russia's military capability than I do.

When you're waging war by proxy, you don't need superior technology- only some patsy country or terrost organization crazy enough to take a shot. The Islamofacists seem to fit the bill. In a nuclear age that is unacceptable. We don't need this kind of friend.

[InterceptPoint]

You can see from this article why the Intelligence Community was reluctant to let these documents out. While I don't agree with that opinion you can see the rationale.

For example, we learn that the Russians have "sources at U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar". Now maybe the Russians know we know that and maybe they don't. In any case it would be better to keep them guessing then to confirm that the U.S. has such knowledge.

Now this is a pretty minor example but given the volume of documents it seems inevitable that some serious breaches of security will occur. That is the price we are going to have to pay to get these documents in the hands of the Bloggers and the public. It is worth it, but there is a price.

[daybreakcoming]

Let's remember that President Bush said at the outset of the war that there would be "misinformation" given out. Maybe Putin didn't get that memo because it appears that much of the info passed to saddam was wrong.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It is worth it, but there is a price.

It is an eye-opener, to see how the international game is played.

[SittinYonder]

genefromjersey today posed some questions about one of the other documents ... how did Iraq get certain info about U.S. intelligence. Did they get that from the Russians, too?

I'm home for lunch watching Fox News, and Brett Baer just reported they got info from the Pentagon today ... memos from Iraq, I think he said ... and according to this report the Iraqis received info on American forces from a Russian who got it from "a source in Centcom."

A highly placed traitor feeding information to the Russians who fed it to the Iraqis, it sounds like.

[GarySpFc]

Let's remember that President Bush said at the outset of the war that there would be "misinformation" given out. Maybe Putin didn't get that memo because it appears that much of the info passed to saddam was wrong.

I just heard on the radio a short time ago misinformation was passed along to Saddam in that he was told we would not engage in urban warfare.

[GarySpFc]

Furthermore, it is the high point of stupidity to call Russia communist,...

And just how difficult would it be for Russia to return to a socialist dictatorship? Hugo Chavez seems to have done this in pretty short order (elected in 1998) and is in the midst of seizing property. Do you really think Chavez will relinquish power at the end of his term as president? Why couldn't Putin or any subsequent Russian leader do the same? All of the Russian intelligence agencies are still in place. That's not stupid, it's prudent. I'm paid very well to be prudent.

You seem to have overlooked that it was Yeltsin who dissolved the KGB in 1991, and it was he who set up the resulting 5 different bureaus, 4 are concerned with internal and 1 with external operations. They are far smaller than the original KGB. Furthermore, if you saw the democratic changes and the attitude of the under 45 generation, then you would realize how absurd the premise is that Russia will or can return to communism.

[ConservativeMan55]

LOL

[Romanov]

"Could this be the "embarrassment" of "allies" that some were worried about concerning the release of these documents? "

Interesting - but we don't call the Russians our "Allies" - or the French (not that often). Maybe that phraseology signifies that the source is from one of our real Allies. Which is a scary thought. I'd rather think that than believe it was an American feeding them the information (although it's definitely possible - some people will do anything for $$$$$).