Home > Russians Surprised by Putin’s Comments on Saddam’s Terror Plans
Russians Surprised by Putin’s Comments on Saddam’s Terror Plans
by Open-Publishing - Wednesday 23 June 2004By Sergei Blagov
Russia’s unexpected announcement that it supplied the U.S. with intelligence that Saddam Hussein was planning to carry out terrorist attacks on American soil has left many here guessing about the motives behind the assertion.
In remarks broadcast on state television, President Vladimir Putin said that after the Sept. 11 al-Qaeda attacks on the U.S. and before the start of the military operation against Iraq early last year, Russian intelligence obtained the information and "passed it on to their American counterparts."
Putin’s comments, which could provide additional justification for the war, came as a bolt from the blue, as Moscow was a key opponent of the U.S.-led campaign to overthrow Saddam.
The Russian leader said, however, that the intelligence information did not change Russia’s assessment that the invasion was unjustified under international law.
"There are international rules that lay down the correct procedures for the use of force in international relations and these procedures were not followed in this case," he said.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said he knew nothing of any information from Russia, communicated through the department, while National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment.
"We have had a very good relationship with the Russian government in the war against terrorism, and a big part of that is information sharing," McCormack said.
The announcement has also left Russian officials and politicians scratching their heads.
Mikhail Marguelov, head of the foreign affairs committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, said the revelation was news to him.
Russia’s legislative and executive branches were not aware of proof of Iraq-al-Qaeda links, he added.
Lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky, deputy speaker of the State Duma or lower house, speculated that Saddam’s regime may have prepared attacks against the U.S. as a means of self-defense.
"Baghdad could have resolved to acts of terror in the event of the U.S. aggression against Iraq," opined Zhirinovsky, who counted himself as a close friend of the ousted dictator.
Russian media commentators suggested that the Kremlin was attempting to come to the aid of President Bush, whom opponents accuse of going to war without sufficient justification.
The Russian Ren-TV network said Putin was intending to back Bush in the run up to November’s election, by helping to ease the current pressures he is under.
When the war began, Russian politicians accused the U.S.-led coalition of "waging war against civilians" and described the U.S. as an "aggressor."
Moscow sided with the leaders of France and Germany in this criticism, insisting on a larger role for the U.N. and its Security Council. Russia had also accused the U.S. of misleading domestic and international opinion by manipulating media reporting on the war.
Some critics of the Russian approach have accused Moscow of opposing the war, in part, because Russian oil firms had much to lose in Iraq, having signed contracts worth $4 billion to drill oil wells, deliver equipment and develop oil reserves.
Despite Putin’s unexpected new remarks, he said Russia still wanted the issue of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs — a key reason cited by the U.S. and allies for going to war — to be "fully" clarified.
Meanwhile, the Texas-based independence intelligence analysis firm, Stratfor, said Putin appeared to be "playing a double game, exploiting the flux in the U.S. political scene to meet Russia’s needs."
Putin favored Bush over Senator John Kerry in the forthcoming elections, Stratfor said, because the Bush administration paid little attention to Moscow’s clampdown on powerful businessmen ("oligarchs") during Putin’s first term.
The Clinton administration, by contrast, had "pushed heavily for the Kremlin to empower the oligarchs and allow them to control the press; such a stance would likely resurface under a Kerry presidency."
Stratfor said Putin’s intervention came at a perfect time for the Bush campaign, following the findings of the 9/11 commission, which called into question any link between Baghdad and al-Qaeda in relation to the 2001 attacks.
The intelligence analyst also noted that its own sources in the Russian political and intelligence establishment were strongly disputing Putin’s claims. Moscow (CNSNews.com)