| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Ex-spy fingers Russians on WMD |
| 2003-08-21 |
| Interesting OP/ED in the Washington Times by Ion Mihai Pacepa, a Romanian, the highest-ranking intelligence officer ever to have defected from the former Soviet bloc. Edited for length, click on the title and read the whole article: As a former Romanian spy chief who used to take orders from the Soviet KGB, it is perfectly obvious to me that Russia is behind the evanescence of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. After all, Russia helped Saddam get his hands on them in the first place. The Soviet Union and all its bloc states always had a standard operating procedure for deep sixing weapons of mass destruction — in Romanian it was codenamed "Sarindar, meaning "emergency exit."I implemented it in Libya. It was for ridding Third World despots of all trace of their chemical weapons if the Western imperialists ever got near them. We wanted to make sure they would never be traced back to us, and we also wanted to frustrate the West by not giving them anything they could make propaganda with. All chemical weapons were to be immediately burned or buried deep at sea. Technological documentation, however, would be preserved in microfiche buried in waterproof containers for future reconstruction. Chemical weapons, especially those produced in Third Worldcountries,which lack sophisticated production facilities, often do not retainlethal properties after a few months on the shelf and are routinely dumped anyway. And all chemical weapons plants had a civilian cover making detection difficult, regardless of the circumstances. The plan included an elaborate propaganda routine. Anyone accusing Moammar Gadhafi of possessing chemical weapons would be ridiculed. Lies, all lies! Come to Libya and see! Our Western left-wing organizations, like the World Peace Council, existed for sole purpose of spreading the propaganda we gave them. These very same groups bray the exact same themes to this day. We always relied on their expertise at organizing large street demonstrations in Western Europe over America’swar-mongering whenever we wanted to distract world attention from the crimes of the vicious regimes we sponsored. Iraq, in my view, had its own "Sarindar" plan in effect direct from Moscow. It certainly had one in the past. Nicolae Ceausescu told me so, and he heard it from Leonid Brezhnev. KGB chairman Yury Andropov, and later, Gen. Yevgeny Primakov, told me so too. In the late 1970s, Gen. Primakov ran Saddam’s weapons programs. After that, as you may recall, he was promoted to head of the Soviet foreign intelligence service in 1990, to Russia’s minister of foreign affairs in 1996, and in 1998, to prime minister. What you may not know is that Primakov hates Israel and has always championed Arab radicalism. He was a personal friend of Saddam’s and has repeatedly visited Baghdad after 1991, quietly helping Saddam play his game of hide-and-seek. The Soviet bloc not only sold Saddam its WMDs, but it showed them how to make them "disappear." Russia is still at it. Primakov was in Baghdad from December until a couple of days before the war, along with a team of Russian military experts led by two of Russia’s topnotch "retired" generals,Vladislav Achalov, a former deputy defense minister, and Igor Maltsev, a former air defense chief of staff. They were all there receiving honorary medals from the Iraqi defense minister. They clearly were not there to give Saddam military advice for the upcoming war—Saddam’s Katyusha launchers were of World War II vintage, and his T-72 tanks, BMP-1 fighting vehicles and MiG fighter planes were all obviously useless against America. "I did not fly to Baghdad to drink coffee," was what Gen. Achalov told the media afterward. They were there orchestrating Iraq’s "Sarindar" plan. Makes sense to me. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #6 Sometimes I get ticked that the Intelligence Services just seem to collect information endlessly .... but never seem to actually do anything with it. The majority of the people who actually work in spook outfits like the ones I've belonged to and know about (a lot!), and that I'm sure Fred and a few others here have been associated with, are very carefully, very fully restricted about what we can and can't say, can and can't do. The document I signed just before my retirement limits me from saying almost anything for seventy years after I retire - that is, until (supposedly) long after I'll probably be dead anyway. The collection and analysis is done by professionals - the dissemination (actual release and use) is governed by politicians. Need I say anything more? |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-8-21 9:23:57 PM |
| #5 It's hard (for me) to know how much of this to take seriously. But this: Our Western left-wing organizations, like the World Peace Council, existed for sole purpose of spreading the propaganda we gave them. These very same groups bray the exact same themes to this day. I have often wondered if some of the more surreal beliefs held by the world's moonbats weren't originally Soviet propaganda, which continues to grow and prosper long after the death of its host organism. But I have always figured that was tinfoil hat territory. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2003-8-21 7:10:25 PM |
| #4 These groups are so incestuous that some enterprising reporter might take down the entire house of cards. well said, .com! I've always wondered why the intelligence services don't leak enough info to make the public aware of the connections, it's such a small worthless group of dirtbags allowed to have such a big influence. It's time for their gig to be up. Sometimes I get ticked that the Intelligence Services just seem to collect information endlessly .... but never seem to actually do anything with it. While I understand the benefit of letting the small fry go to get the big fish, it really doesn't do any good to endlessly create file folders, year after year after year, and never do anything with the information but use it to collect more of it. |
| Posted by: Becky 2003-8-21 6:44:37 PM |
| #3 Some heads will roll with this one... Awesome info - I hope Pacepa's got his ass thoroughly covered - Prez Putty and Gen Primavera are still puttering around, after all. The next paragraph sorta puts a period at the end of the WMD hunt: "The U.S. military in fact, has already found the only thing that would have been allowed to survive under the classic Soviet "Sarindar" plan to liquidate weapons arsenals in the event of defeat in war — the technological documents showing how to reproduce weapons stocks in just a few weeks." He explains Putty's UN stance, too. Putty knew nothing would be found, so he could play the Euro side for what they were worth to him and know there would be no egg on his face when he faced Dubya, again... except he didn't plan on Pacepa (or other equally informed person) going Op-Ed and spilling the beans... Definitely time to disinvite Prez Putty regards that upcoming trip to Texas I've read about - unless he's willing to be the main BBQ course. I wish Pacepa would do more to discredit the tool-phools - this is Non-Trivial info. He only shoots down the World Peace Council... by affiliation, I guess that might show several others for what they are. Removing their cover for the doofs of the press and the tools to see is long long overdue. These groups are so incestuous that some enterprising reporter might take down the entire house of cards. These "suckers welcome" orgs run most of the West's anti-govt "demonstrations" (and funnel money to the goofy pol parties, such as the so-called "Greens") - much the same as the NorKs have manipulated the idiot SKor "student" groups. Isn't it time to hear from our resident IndyMedia fount of wisdom? Pacepa's a brave dude - and I hope we are covering him vewy vewy well, indeed - he'll need the resources of a state to stay alive. Great Post - THX! |
| Posted by: .com 2003-8-21 1:15:30 PM |
| #2 Me too, should of wacked them on the way in. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-8-21 1:01:11 PM |
| #1 Remember the convoy of Russian "diplomats" that didn't follow their advertised egress route from Bagdad and got whacked. I felt bad about that mistake. |
| Posted by: Steve D 2003-8-21 12:54:39 PM |