HERE’S MORE EVIDENCE FOR THE DEN BESTE THEORY that France, Russia and Germany tried to block war to conceal the extent of their support for Saddam:
Top secret documents obtained by The Telegraph in Baghdad show that Russia provided Saddam Hussein’s regime with wide-ranging assistance in the months leading up to the war, including intelligence on private conversations between Tony Blair and other Western leaders.
Moscow also provided Saddam with lists of assassins available for “hits” in the West and details of arms deals to neighbouring countries. The two countries also signed agreements to share intelligence, help each other to “obtain” visas for agents to go to other countries and to exchange information on the activities of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qa’eda leader.
The documents detailing the extent of the links between Russia and Saddam were obtained from the heavily bombed headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad yesterday.
I wouldn’t take this to the bank just yet, but it’s consistent with other things that we’ve heard. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Then there’s France.
ANOTHER UPDATE: And there’s this:
Last week it was disclosed that two retired three-star generals — Vladislav Achalov (a former paratrooper and specialist in urban warfare) and Igor Maltsev (a specialist in air defense) — visited Baghdad recently and were awarded medals by Hussein. The awards were handed out by Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Khashim Akhmed.
It was reported that the retired generals helped Hussein prepare a war plan to defeat the Americans. Achalov confirmed he was in Baghdad just before the war and received medals from Hussein for services rendered. He also told journalists that the defense of Baghdad was well organized, U.S. tanks would be burned if they enter the city and U.S. infantry would be slaughtered. According to Achalov, the only way the allies could ever take Baghdad and other Iraqi cities was to raze them to the ground by carpet bombing.
I think we should be advertising that Saddam had Russian weapons and electronics (remember the GPS-jammers destroyed by GPS bombs?) and Russian military advice, too! We might even suggest, in a low-key sort of way, that those contributed to our swift victory.
Meanwhile, the article reports, the rapid US success is making Russians ask why their military hasn’t done better in Chechnya. Er, see the above paragraph. . . .