Article

2004-10-28 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Russia denies ties to Iraqi weapons removal

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Posted by Dar 2004-10-28 1:32:58 PM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Christian Science Monitor, dateline August 20, 2002: "The Moscow daily Kommersant wrote yesterday that if sanctions against Iraq are lifted, Russia is set to renew arms sales to the regime. The newspaper added that its military sources said that Russian military cooperation organizations "have become more active in Iraq lately." Even more Russian workers in Iraq will pose "new problems for the US" because it "won't be easy for Washington to bomb the citizens of the country which is one of the allies in the antiterror coalition," the paper wrote."

Posted by Tom 2004-10-28 1:46:13 PM|| 2004-10-28 1:46:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Perhaps Russian Mercinaries supplied by the Russian privatized explosive manufacturers?

Mercinaries, some of them had Iraq experience pre-'91...???

Posted by BigEd 2004-10-28 1:46:52 PM|| 2004-10-28 1:46:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 I bet Assad is taking Imodium right now.

Posted by rjschwarz 2004-10-28 1:55:03 PM|| [http://politicaljunky.blogspot.com] 2004-10-28 1:55:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Putting this lie to rest:
Ion Mihai Pacepa

Iraq WMD's
Washington Times
Townhall

And it really gets juicy in regards to Arafat / PLO
FrontPage

And his view of Kerry?
National Review

Posted by Regnad Kcin 2004-10-28 2:21:16 PM|| 2004-10-28 2:21:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 A 2003 tidbit:
The highest-ranking Communist bloc defector, Ion Mihai Pacepa (defected from Romania when it was still Communist) has warned that Russia has an interest in having Iraqâs WMDs disappear. He explains that Russia had a key role in Saddam receiving the weapons initially, and had a secret operational plan to make them âdisappearâ should it become necessary. The plan was called âSarindarâ, or, âEmergency Exitâ. Pacepa played a key role in Operation Emergency Exit in Libya. The goal of the plan? To remove all WMDs from any third world ally that was being invaded by the West. The plan, he writes, originally developed for Libya (and to hide Russiaâs complicity in the activity) was quickly expanded to other allies of Russia including Iraq. As a bonus, the operation âwould frustrate the West by not giving them anything they could make propaganda with.â

WMDs would be burned or buried deep at sea (in Libyaâs case, most likely underground for Iraq), but technical documents would be preserved in small water-proof containers for future use. All the plants for WMDs would have a civilian cover, so the West could not prove they were WMD sites. The plan involved an intense propaganda campaign, in which the politicians making the accusations towards the Soviet/Russian ally would be mocked. Among the propaganda activity would be anti-Western demonstrations and protests. Pacepa says he knows first-hand that the Operation Emergency Exit was applied to Iraq, because Ceausescu, Brezhnev, Andropov and Primakov all informed him about it. It is interesting that Primakov also is known to be close to Saddam Hussein and to regularly consult with him (and was in Baghdad from December 2002 up until when the war began). Pacepa concludes Russia advised Iraq on how to implement its old Emergency Exit plan.

Posted by Tom 2004-10-28 2:25:14 PM|| 2004-10-28 2:25:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Bill Gertz was on the Michael Savage show ... it seems the Russians through Primakov had quite a sophisticated speznatz operation in Iraq. The Pentagon is working feverishly on documents outlining the entire framework and nature of what amounts to a sophisticated intelligence operation aimed at moving proscribed materials, explosives, munitions, chemicals, etc into Syria... Gertz is still on the case and more should follow ...

Posted by doc 2004-10-28 7:39:03 PM|| 2004-10-28 7:39:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 A true Soviet is a Soviet is a Soviet. Which nation supplied Saddam's Iraq with all sorts of arms? When our Marines advanced toward Baghdad the T-72 tanks they encountered were not made in Iceland.

This is just one more reason Putin's Russia was in no way interested in seeing the Saddam clan ousted from power. Arms & oil=$$$$$

Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-10-28 10:33:26 PM|| 2004-10-28 10:33:26 PM|| Front Page Top