Russia aided Iraq on US military movements

Via the Washington Post:

Russian officials collected intelligence on U.S. troop movements and attack plans from inside the American military command leading the 2003 invasion of Iraq and passed that information to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, according to a U.S. military study released yesterday.

The intelligence reports, which the study said were provided to Hussein through the Russian ambassador in Baghdad at the height of the U.S. assault, warned accurately that American formations intended to bypass Iraqi cities on their thrust toward Baghdad. The reports provided some specific numbers on U.S. troops, units and locations, according to Iraqi documents dated March and April 2003 and later captured by the United States.

“The information that the Russians have collected from their sources inside the American Central Command in Doha is that the United States is convinced that occupying Iraqi cities are impossible, and that they have changed their tactic,” said one captured Iraqi document titled “Letter from Russian Official to Presidential Secretary Concerning American Intentions in Iraq” and dated March 25, 2003.

Russia has issued a full blown denial, of course:

A Russian official at the United Nations strongly rejected the allegations that Russian officials gave information to Baghdad. “This is absolutely nonsense,” said Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian mission to the United Nations. She said the allegations were never presented to the Russian government before being issued to the news media.

More on how they got this info via AP:

An unclassified Pentagon report released Friday cited two confiscated Iraqi documents as saying the Russians collected information from sources “inside the American Central Command” and that battlefield intelligence was provided to then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein through the Russian ambassador in Baghdad.

The report also said the Russian government had sources inside the American military command as it planned and executed the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Pavel Felgenhauer, a respected independent Moscow-based military analyst, said the report was within the realm of possibility.

“It’s quite plausible,” he told The Associated Press.

He said a unit affiliated with the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Department, known by its abbreviation GRU, was actively working in Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The unit apparently was shut down after the fall of Baghdad.

Vladimir Putin, you’ve got some explaining to do.

On a related note, check out this must-read post at RightWinged.com titled: “The Case For Iraq’s WMDs, Al Qaeda Connections, And Russian Involvement” – it’s lengthy, but well worth the read.