Putin: Russia Warned US About Possible Attack by Iraq
From the Boston Globe:
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said yesterday that his government had warned Washington that Saddam Hussein was preparing attacks on US soil and on American interests abroad before the US invasion of Iraq. But US officials expressed surprise at Putin's remarks.
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"After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services several times received information that the official services of the Saddam regime were preparing terrorist acts on the United States and beyond its borders," Putin told reporters in Kazakhstan.
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In his remarks yesterday, Putin also said he had no information that Hussein had participated in the Sept. 11 attacks.
But he asserted that Russian intelligence had been told on several occasions that Hussein's special forces were preparing to attack US targets. "This information was passed on to our American colleagues," he said.
Matt's Chat
Even this article tried to dismiss Putin's assertion, so unless it comes from Jack Iraq, the Partisan Mediatm and thus the radical, "mainstream" Left will not buy it.I suspect it is true. I vividly recall video from Iraq wherein the murder of thousands on September 11th was celebrated by Saddam Hussein. And I don't think he's the kind of guy who wouldn't have thought about trying to take advantage of the situation.
And no, Lefties, I don't think this was an "imminent threat" or any other such nonsense. That crap has been refuted so many times on this site I'll encourage you to do a Google search. Here is a hint, it has to do with the State of the Union Address and the phrase "before it becomes imminent."
Mark's Remarks
Of course, leftists see things through a very thin prism of hate America first, blame America first. Therefore, this has to be false information by Putin because it goes against the idea that Saddam was really not such a terrible guy (the Dan Rather theory) and that maybe he was just misunderstood and should be respected. Liberals cannot see the forest for saving each and every god blessed tree. It does not matter that Saddam rejoiced over 9/11 (hell, Jack Iraq probably did somersaults himself), it does not matter that his people did meet with al Queda, that he did give haven to terrorists. No, let's take statements by Bush, Cheney, Powell, etc. out of context and make them be held to an impossible standard just so we can retake power and send the country tailspinning, just as we did in the 1970s. Honestly, do you wish to go back to the days of US capitulation and the US being bullied? I sure as shooting do not.
