[SittinYonder]

B. How does somebody in Afghanistan know what evidence America possesses ?

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?

[SengirV]

If they did, I'd imagine Saddam would have blown all the bridges to slow the allied advance, in order to inflict maximum casualties.


I doubt this happened.

[spetznaz]

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.

To me, the more troubling thing is how that information got to the Russians. If the article is correct, and that the Russians knew our war plans, how did they get them?

Now, I'm sure they have the ability to know general positions of our armed forces, but to know the exact numbers as well as the actual invasion plans is not something that an orbiting satellite can provide. They got this information from some source, and if what the article says is true then that source was very well informed (and thus not some grunt fresh from junior ROTC).

How was this information obtained?

[truemiester]

"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. "

Probably got it off CNN.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Don't trust this ABC trickery, = Lucy pulling the football back at the last moment.

[R. Scott]

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

Didn’t do Iraq much good, and it may even been intentional on our part.

[Mo1]

(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. )

Go to the link and read the whole thing ping

[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.

[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.