Russia informed US of Iraq Attack Plans

confusedjw

By Raushan Nurshayeva
ASTANA, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, in comments sure to help President Bush, declared Friday that Russia knew Iraq's Saddam Hussein had planned terror attacks on U.S. soil and had warned Washington.
Putin said Russian intelligence had been told on several occasions that Saddam's special forces were preparing to attack U.S. targets inside and outside the United States.
"After the events of September 11, 2001, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services several times received information that the official services of the Saddam regime were preparing 'terrorist acts' on the United States and beyond its borders," he told reporters.
"This information was passed on to our American colleagues," he said. He added, however, that Russian intelligence had no proof that Saddam's agents had been involved in any particular attack.
The Kremlin leader's comments were certain to bolster Bush, whose campaign for re-election in November is under pressure from the Iraq crisis.
The U.S. leader has been on the defensive at home for insisting -- against the findings of an independent commission -- that Saddam had links with al Qaeda, the militant group behind the 2001 airline attacks in the United States that killed 3,000 people and prompted the U.S. war on terrorism.
Putin's remarks were all the more unusual since Russia had diplomatic relations with Saddam's Iraq and sided with France and Germany in opposing the invasion

I dunno, just thought I would throw it out there.

Satanus

"After the events of September 11, 2001, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services several times received information that the official services of the Saddam regime were preparing 'terrorist acts' on the United States and beyond its borders,"

Those words may possibly be worth billions of dollars.

S

Double Edge

I wonder if this is going to hit the mainstream press..... we'll see.

bisous

Forgot to highlight this part, confused:

"This information was passed on to our American colleagues," he said. He added, however, that Russian intelligence had no proof that Saddam's agents had been involved in any particular attack.

SixofNine

:Putin's remarks were all the more unusual since Russia had diplomatic relations with Saddam's Iraq and sided with France and Germany in opposing the invasion. lol.

Simon

Watch out for an 'aid package' heading towards Russia ...

If they had really passed on intelligence, I think that Bush would have been citing it as the proof (that he obviously didn't have) instead of making the rediculous claim that the current activity in Iraq (since America brought 'peace' to the area) is the proof.

This is just very convenient and at the same time unsubstatiated. Again, convenient.

Leolaia

I'm very suspicious of this too. Never has Bush or his administration mentioned this intelligence in defending their decision to go to war.

It is also disingenuous that Bush is now saying that it was only a link to Iraq and Al-Qaeda that justified the war, not a claim that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks. Look at what is on the White House website, the letter that launched the Iraq invasion last year:

Presidential Letter

Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate

March 18, 2003

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I determine that:

(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and

(2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Sincerely,

GEORGE W. BUSH

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-1.html