Posted on 04/14/2003 8:06:59 AM PDT by Paul Ross
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Russia Gave Iraq Assassin List
NewsMax WiresBritain’s Telegraph reported Sunday that top secret documents discovered by Coalition forces in Baghdad “show that Russia provided Saddam Hussein's regime with wide-ranging assistance in the months leading up to the war, including intelligence on private conversations between Tony Blair and other Western leaders.”
Monday, April 14, 2003
Incredibly, Russia’s government also provided Iraq with “lists of assassins available for ‘hits’ in the West and details of arms deals to neighbouring countries.”
The Telegraph said the documents detailed “the extent of the links between Russia and Saddam” and were obtained from the heavily bombed headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad Saturday.
The paper continued:
“The documents, in Arabic, are mostly intelligence reports from anonymous agents and from the Iraqi embassy in Moscow. Tony Blair is referred to in a report dated March 5, 2002 and marked: ‘Subject – SECRET.’ In the letter, an Iraqi intelligence official explains that a Russian colleague had passed him details of a private conversation between Mr Blair and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, at a meeting in Rome. The two had met for an annual summit on February 15, 2002, in Rome.
“The list of assassins is referred to in a paper dated November 27, 2000. In it, an agent signing himself ‘SAB’ says that the Russians have passed him a detailed list of killers. The letter does not describe any assignments that the assassins might be given but it indicates just how much Moscow was prepared to share with Baghdad."
Also, on Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that “a Moscow-based organization was training Iraqi intelligence agents as recently as last September – at the same time Russia was resisting the Bush administration's push for a tough stand against Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraqi documents discovered by The Chronicle show.”
The paper said that “documents found Thursday and Friday in a Baghdad office of the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi secret police, indicate that at least five agents graduated Sept. 15 from a two-week course in surveillance and eavesdropping techniques, according to certificates issued to the Iraqi agents by the ’Special Training Center’ in Moscow."
Russia has repeatedly denied offering terrorist and military assistance to Iraq. Still, Iraq has been considered a Russian client state for decades, and the new documents show the extent of that relationship.
Incredible is the right word. So, what is the purpose of these stories?
The situation is actually worse than that: this particular act smells like a deed by a team of renegade KGB held over from the communist times, who side with anyone against us.
The truth is, Russia itself is not much different from what it claims to fight (terrorism): it is not unlike the Arab world in that the tsar does not fully control either the dukes or the peasants.
Revealed: Russia spied on Blair for Saddam
By David Harrison
(Filed: 13/04/2003)
Top secret documents obtained by The Telegraph in Baghdad show that Russia provided Saddam Hussein's regime with wide-ranging assistance in the months leading up to the war, including intelligence on private conversations between Tony Blair and other Western leaders.
Moscow also provided Saddam with lists of assassins available for "hits" in the West and details of arms deals to neighbouring countries. The two countries also signed agreements to share intelligence, help each other to "obtain" visas for agents to go to other countries and to exchange information on the activities of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qa'eda leader.
The documents detailing the extent of the links between Russia and Saddam were obtained from the heavily bombed headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad yesterday.
The sprawling complex, which for years struck fear into Iraqis, has been the target of looters and ordinary Iraqis searching for information about relatives who disappeared during Saddam's rule.
The documents, in Arabic, are mostly intelligence reports from anonymous agents and from the Iraqi embassy in Moscow. Tony Blair is referred to in a report dated March 5, 2002 and marked: "Subject - SECRET." In the letter, an Iraqi intelligence official explains that a Russian colleague had passed him details of a private conversation between Mr Blair and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, at a meeting in Rome. The two had met for an annual summit on February 15, 2002, in Rome.
The document says that Mr Blair "referred to the negative things decided by the United States over Baghdad". It adds that Mr Blair refused to engage in any military action in Iraq at that time because British forces were still in Afghanistan and that nothing could be done until after the new Kabul government had been set up.
It is not known how the Russians obtained such potentially sensitive information, but the revelation that Moscow passed it on to Baghdad is likely to have a devastating effect on relations between Britain and Russia and come as a personal blow to Mr Blair. The Prime Minister declared a "new era" in relations with President Putin when they met in Moscow in October 2001 in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks.
In spite of warnings by the British intelligence and security services of increasing Russian espionage in the West, Mr Blair fostered closer relations with Mr Putin, visiting his family dacha near Moscow, supporting the Russians in their war in Chechnya, and arranging for the Russian president to have tea with the Queen.
Mr Blair was surprised and dismayed when Mr Putin joined France in threatening to veto the American and British resolution on Iraq in the UN, but continued to differentiate between President Putin and President Jacques Chirac.
The Prime Minister refused to join the French, German and Russian leaders in their summit on Iraq this weekend, but still regarded Mr Putin as an ally in global politics.
The list of assassins is referred to in a paper dated November 27, 2000. In it, an agent signing himself "SAB" says that the Russians have passed him a detailed list of killers. The letter does not describe any assignments that the assassins might be given but it indicates just how much Moscow was prepared to share with Baghdad. Another document, dated March 12, 2002, appears to confirm that Saddam had developed, or was developing nuclear weapons. The Russians warned Baghdad that if it refused to comply with the United Nations then that would give the United States "a cause to destroy any nuclear weapons".
A letter from the Iraqi embassy in Moscow shows that Russia kept Iraq informed about its arms deals with other countries in the Middle East. Correspondence, dated January 27, 2000, informed Baghdad that in 1999 Syria bought rockets from Russia in two separate batches valued at $65 million (£41 million) and $73 million (£46 million). It also says that Egypt bought surface-to-air missiles from Russia and that Kuwait - Saddam's old enemy - wanted to buy Russian arms to the value of $1 billion. The Russians also informed Iraq that China had bought military aircraft from Russia and Israel at the end of 1999.
Moscow also passed on information of Russians who could help Iraqi politicians obtain visas to go to many Western countries.
The name of Osama bin Laden appears in a number of Russian reports. Several give details of his support for the rebels in Chechnya. They say bin Laden had built two training camps in Afghanistan, near the Iranian border, to train mujahideen fighters for Russia's rebel republic. The camps could each hold 300 fighters, who were all funded by bin Laden.
Training materials found at the complex give insight into the Iraqi intelligence gathering methods. One certificate shows that a Rashid Jassim had passed an advance course in lock-picking.
Other papers found at the headquarters include reports on the succession in Saudi Arabia and on US-Yemen relations.
The intimate relationship between Baghdad and Moscow is further illustrated by copies of Christmas cards - in the Christian tradition - sent by Taher Jalil Habosh, the head of the Iraqi intelligence service, to his Kremlin counterpart.
Russia has been a key ally of Baghdad since the 1970s and was one of Saddam's main arms suppliers. The Iraqis are understood to owe Moscow more than £8 billion for arms shipments. Russian oil companies had longed to forge links with Saddam Hussein to help develop Iraq's vast oil reserves.
Well, Iraq did attempt to assassinate Israel's ambassador to the UK in London back in '82. But that was an Abu Nidal op.
Let us ask ourselves if we really believe Vladimir Putin was offering Saddam lists of hit men to target Western leaders in the run up to this war. If we don't believe that, then the question becomes, who is leaking this sh*t and to what end?
Sowing seeds of dissent, initiating public unrest, encouraging cross international words... in other words, making sure that their future rating and sales will be high and screw the risks to human lives.
France's 'peace' coalition cracks
By Ben Aris in Moscow and Anton La Guardia
(Filed: 14/04/2003)
The anti-war coalition of France, Germany and Russia seemed to be crumbling yesterday after President Vladimir Putin put out a series of conciliatory signals to America. der
The day after a summit of the main anti-war countries ended in St Petersburg without a formal communique, Moscow officials conceded that sooner or later the Kremlin would resume normal relations with Washington.
Senior Russian officials told the Izvestia daily newspaper that the Kremlin has "no illusions about any long-term perspectives for the axis". One official said: "Sooner or later Iraq will fall and Russia and the United States will resume normal relations."
The source added that Russia never expected any long-term principled position from either France or Germany.
Meanwhile, Moscow denied a report in The Sunday Telegraph that Russia had colluded with Saddam Hussein and provided intelligence on Tony Blair's conversations with other western leaders. Quoting documents found in the intelligence service headquarters in Baghdad, the report said Russia also provided Iraq with lists of assassins for "hits" in the West and information on arms deals signed by countries bordering Iraq.
"We refuse to comment on such unsubstantiated and groundless reports," a spokesman for Russia's foreign intelligence agency said.
America has accused Russia of providing Iraq with jamming devices and other military equipment. But the Foreign Office played down the "spying" report, saying it knew nothing about it.
Russia and Iraq have a long tradition of military co-operation and most of the Iraqi military hardware was bought from Russia. Many of the Iraqi elite were trained in the Soviet Union.
The former Russian prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov, has disclosed that he went to Baghdad a few days before the start of the fighting to try to persuade Saddam to step down.
His disclosure has fuelled speculation that he was in Baghdad to bring out Iraq's secret service archives.
I can't imagine they would have held any illusions about that. It is very, very hard to credit that the Russians would be not merely anti-war, but actively taking Saddam's part in the conflict.
America has accused Russia of providing Iraq with jamming devices and other military equipment.
All of which sounded suspiciously pro forma to me at the time.
But the Foreign Office played down the "spying" report, saying it knew nothing about it.
Ookay...
The former Russian prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov, has disclosed that he went to Baghdad a few days before the start of the fighting to try to persuade Saddam to step down.
Interesting. What could Putin have brought to the party in this war, once Bush laid it on the line for him? And, do you think that Vladimir Putin, ex-head of Soviet intelligence, is fooled by the Hatfill charade? Remember the maxim, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." That's what Putin could bring to the party. That's where his added value is.
So, next time you see Bush and Putin together, ask yourself if Bush's body language suggests he thinks Putin was offering Saddam a list of hit men to strike Western leaders. My guess is, it won't.
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