EckerNet.Com

It\’s amazing what\’s coming out of the Iraqi archives lately…

Two Iraqi documents dated in March 2003 – on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion – and addressed to the secretary of Saddam Hussein, describe details of a U.S. plan for war. According to the documents, the plan was disclosed to the Iraqis by the Russian ambassador.

How nice, the Russians coughed up our plan for war to the Iraqis. First of all, I would be curious how they got those plans, whether by espionage or intelligence or what.

The first document (CMPC-2003-001950) is a handwritten account of a meeting with the Russian ambassador that details his description of the composition, size, location and type of U.S. military forces arrayed in the Gulf and Jordan. The document includes the exact numbers of tanks, armored vehicles, different types of aircraft, missiles, helicopters, aircraft carriers, and other forces, and also includes their exact locations. The ambassador also described the positions of two Special Forces units.

This doesn\’t sound like the run of the mill friendly anecdotal advice, sounds like there are enough specifics involved here that it\’s way beyond that. At the very least this sounds like intelligence analysts are involved, satellite photos, etc. We\’re talking state level assistance here.

One would certainly hope that the CIA is taking a look at these documents to determine if this information could be gathered purely by satellite surveillance and the like or if a leak is involved somewhere.

The second document (CMPC-2004-001117) is a typed account, signed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hammam Abdel Khaleq, that states that the Russian ambassador has told the Iraqis that the United States was planning to deploy its force into Iraq from Basra in the South and up the Euphrates, and would avoid entering major cities on the way to Baghdad, which is, in fact what happened. The documents also state \”Americans are also planning on taking control of the oil fields in Kirkuk.\” The information was obtained by the Russians from \”sources at U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar,\” according to the document.

Yeah, like I was saying. Not exactly the type of stuff you would casually mention during a poker game with the guys. Certainly once you know the position and composition of the forces involved, the possible strategies can be narrowed down. But skipping major cities? Somewhere security is breaking down.

And given that the Russians had all this information it was awfully nice of them to share it with someone we were obviously prepared to go to war with. Speaks highly of their opinion and intentions towards us. Which begs the question, why we should take them seriously regarding Iran?