PENTAGON REVELATIONS -- OMINOUS FOR ANTI-TERROR CAMPAIGN, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
October 28, 2004
By Toby Westerman
Copyright 2004 International News Analysis Today
www.inatoday.com
Today's shocking revelations that Russian special forces assisted Saddam Hussein's intelligence units in transporting weapons and other war material out of Iraq raise grave issues for both the war on terror and the fast approaching U.S. presidential election.
Two Defense Department officials described to Bill Gertz of the Washington Times how Russian "spetsnaz" units organized large truck convoys to move Iraq's most powerful weaponry and related material into Syria, Lebanon, and possibly Iran, just before the U.S.-led coalition launched its attack. Russian troops also destroyed evidence of Moscow's military assistance program to Iraq - aid that was illegal under UN sanctions.
The approximately 400 tons of RDX and HMX high explosives from Al-Qaqaa were "almost certainly" included in the clandestine Russian convoys, according to one of Gertz's Pentagon sources.
Moscow denies the assertions, and the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. branded the claims as "nonsense." Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita was "unaware" of the statements, according to early press reports.
If the Pentagon officials' account is verified, Moscow's actions throw an ominous shadow over America's war on terror.
Russia is generally acknowledged to be an important ally in the war on terror, and is increasingly trusted by members of the multi-national anti-terror coalition. Intelligence reports on terror suspects are shared with Moscow, and Russian troops regularly engage in military exercises with other anti-terror coalition members, including the United States.
The statements made by the Pentagon officials put into question Russia's participation in the war on terror, as well as Moscow's trustworthiness as an ally.
Although shocking, the statements of the Pentagon officials fit into a pattern of pro-terror activities already well-established by Moscow.
Russian assistance flows freely to states supporting terror, including North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Syria, and pre-"reform" Libya. Despite devastating terror attacks in Russia, the most recent being the assault on a school in Beslan, Moscow continues to aid those who support the terror networks.
Moscow has consistently criticized or outright condemned U.S. action in Iraq from the beginning of the war. The assertions of the Pentagon officials put Moscow's frequent denunciation of the United States in a new light, and raises serious questions about Russian motivation for those charges.
Recently, Moscow claimed that the U.S. is seeking to make Iraq an American colony, according to the Voice of Russia World Service, official broadcasting service of the Russian government. If the Pentagon officials' statements are verified, it will become obvious that the real threat to peace in the Middle East is not purported U.S. colonization, but, rather, Moscow's alliance with pro-terror regimes.
The statements of the Pentagon officials are also a major blow to the presidential campaign of U.S. Senator John Kerry, who quickly accepted UN claims that the U.S. failed to secure the Al-Qaqaa facility leading to the disappearance of nearly 400 tons of high explosives. The UN assertions have become a major theme of the Kerry campaign in the final days of the.2004 election.
The Kerry campaign, as well as the media which widely reported the UN assertions, are now faced with a stunning turn of events.
The real issue is not supposed U.S. incompetence, but Moscow's inability to tell the truth and the readiness of the "international community" to condemn America.
Copyright 2004
International News Analysis Today
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