U.S. and Russian media report that documents from Saddam Hussein's Iraqi leadership released by the U.S. government suggest that the Russian ambassador to Iraq disclosed the U.S. war plan to Baghdad.
Two documents dated March 2003, on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion described details of the military plan. The first document is a handwritten account of a meeting with the Russian ambassador Vladimir Teterenko and 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 their exact locations. The ambassador also described the positions of two Special Forces units, ABC reported.
The second document is a typed account, signed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hammam Abdel Khaleq, which states that Teterenko told the Iraqis that the U.S. 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.
Teterenko is also mentioned in documents released by the Volker Commission, which investigated the UN Oil for Food scandal, as receiving allocations of 3 million barrels of oil - worth roughly $1.5 million.
Comments