Russia Denies Giving U.S. Intel to Iraq

[maddezmom]

MOSCOW - Russia on Saturday denied that it provided information on U.S. troops movements and plans to Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Interfax news agency reported.

"Similar, baseless accusations concerning Russia's intelligence have been made more than once," Interfax quoted Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Boris Labusov as saying. "We don't consider it necessary to comment on such fabrications."

An unclassified Pentagon report released Friday cited two confiscated Iraqi documents as saying the Russians collected information from sources "inside the American Central Command" and that battlefield intelligence was provided to then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein through the Russian ambassador in Baghdad.

The report also said the Russian government had sources inside the American military command as it planned and executed the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

more;http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060325/ap_on_re_eu/russia_us_iraq_war

[PetraPooh]

1. I think the whole thing is a plot to discredit Russia heading

into the UN Security council meetings about Iran.

[maddezmom]

2. I agree with you

the timing of the release of documents is suspect, IMO

[leveymg]

3. They should just say publicly that it was a cooperative disinfo operation

Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Cucolo of U.S. Joint Forces Command told a briefing he viewed Russia's decision to give intelligence to Saddam's government as "driven by economic interests." The report noted Russian business interests in Iraqi oil.

The revelations were contained in a report by the U.S. military's Joint Forces Command assessing the Iraqi view of events in the opening months of the war, from March to May 2003, based on interviews with senior Iraqi officials and captured documents.

The report said a document sent to Saddam on March 24, 2003, stated, "The information that the Russians have collected from their sources inside the American Central Command in Doha is that the United States is convinced that occupying Iraqi cities are (sic) impossible, and that they have changed their tactic," to avoid entering cities.

The report said this kind of information was "only one of the fog-generators obscuring the minds of Iraq's senior leadership."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060324/pl_nm/iraq_usa_russia_dc

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. While in the meantime

the troops couldn't even tell their families where they were located or where they were going.

[ClintonTyree]

4. Is someone trying to re-heat the "cold war" again?

If the Russians have sources inside the American Central Command the Pentagon has larger problems than a few leaks. Wouldn't it be great if the "cold war" war on again? Just think of the money we could cut from social services to give to the Pentagon then! Wow! :wow: The "war on terra" AND the "red menace" all at once! The brass in Washington would be coming in their pants.

[Joanne98]

5. more fake documents. nobody believes them anymore

boo hoo

[FloridaPat]

7. When was the last time we got the truth from out gov't about anything?

[PSPS]

8. I guess that explains it!

I always wondered how we were stymied by the Iraqi Air Force and Navy.

Oh, wait...

[54anickel]

9. Are they just throwing this type of crap out there to distract from the

AIPAC case? Don't Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman head for court in April, assuming the judge doesn't toss it out.

It's amazing how the Repubs flip-flop on their meme of "9-11 changed everything". One minute they are screaming that Dems have a pre-911 mentality, the next their pooh-poohing the security concerns regarding the ports deal. Now they say that Rosen and Weissman haven't done anything that's not been part and parcel in DC for ages...and here I thought 9-11 changed everything. :eyes:


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3746884.html

snip>

The law's defects are exacerbated because they infringe on the former lobbyists' constitutional rights to lobby the government and because prosecutors are seeking to criminalize conduct that is part and parcel of Washington politics _ namely, leaks of classified information.

Rosen's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said it is fundamentally unfair that "one day the government stops the music and says you've now crossed the line," when for decades such conduct has been considered acceptable.

The indictment against Rosen, of Silver Spring, Md., and Weissman, of Bethesda, Md., alleges that they conspired to obtain classified government reports on issues relevant to American policy, including the al-Qaida terror network; the bombing of the Khobar Towers dormitory in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 U.S. Air Force personnel; and U.S. policy in Iran.

snip>

A former Defense Department official, Lawrence A. Franklin, pleaded guilty to providing Rosen and Weissman classified defense information and was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. Franklin has said he was concerned that the United States was insufficiently concerned about the threat posed by Iran and hoped that leaking information might eventually provoke the National Security Council to take a different course of action.


12 years, seems kinda light for passing US defense information, especially after 911, doesn't it? Wonder if he cut some deals on that guilty plea. :shrug: