Wednesday, October 27, 2004

And on a night when we could clearly see "the dark side of the moon", too. ESPN.com - MLB/FALLCLASSIC - Caple: 86'd forever
National Review Online's excellent blog, The Corner, reminds us of this story. CNN.com - Russian convoy fired on in Iraq - Apr. 6, 2003
Here's the full version of the Washington Times story on Iraqi arms smuggling aided by Russian special operators referenced below.
Another reason why Kerry should switch from the New York Times for his inspiration to this:

ABC News: Discrepancy Found in Explosives Amounts
This story is interesting (text shown below because the original site is very busy).

I like the quote in this article "Achalov wouldn't say why Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Akhmed decorated the two, telling the Russian Internet newspaper Gazeta.ru, which ran a photograph of the two in the Iraqi capital, only: 'We didn't fly to Baghdad to drink coffee.' "

Here's a related article in the Russian paper with photos of the Russians and Iraqis.

Apparently, among the topics that the Generals were able to advise the Iraqis on is a technique called maskirovska, or "smoke screen"/deception/camouflage.

They were confident in the plan that they helped Saddam develop, but Iraq's quick defeat unsettled Russia and made them doubt their standard military doctrine could stand up to America.

The AP gets around to admitting that the Iraqi Survey Group didn't find any IAEA seals at the site when they searched in May, 2003 in the final paragraph of the AP story here.
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Russian special forces troops moved many of Saddam Hussein’s weapons and related goods out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military operation, The Washington Times has learned.

John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said in an interview that he believes the Russian troops, working with Iraqi intelligence, "almost certainly" removed the high-explosive material that went missing from the Al-Qaqaa facility, south of Baghdad.

"The Russians brought in, just before the war got started, a whole series of military units," Mr. Shaw said. "Their main job was to shred all evidence of any of the contractual arrangements they had with the Iraqis. The others were transportation units."

Mr. Shaw, who was in charge of cataloguing the tons of conventional arms provided to Iraq by foreign suppliers, said he recently obtained reliable information on the arms-dispersal program from two European intelligence services that have detailed knowledge of the Russian-Iraqi weapons collaboration.

Most of Saddam’s most powerful arms were systematically separated from other arms like mortars, bombs and rockets, and sent to Syria and Lebanon, and possibly to Iran, he said.
The Russian involvement in helping disperse Saddam’s weapons, including some 380 tons of RDX and HMX is still being investigated, Mr. Shaw said.
All I can say is, what he said. LILEKS (James) The Bleat
The rowback on NYTrogate begins, albeit slowly. The New York Times: Missing Explosives: No Check of Bunker, Unit Commander Says