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Elite Russian commandos concealed removal of Saddam's weapons

Submitted by Templar Titan on Wed, 11/10/2004 - 21:17.

Russia has become the focus of a U.S. investigation into the removal of
special weapons from Iraq in the months leading up to the March 2003 U.S.
military invasion.

European intelligence sources have uncovered documents that link Russian
spetsnaz troops to the removal of Russian-made arms and explosives.

Asked if the Russians worked at the al Qaqaa facility where some 380 tons of
RDX and HMX explosives had been stored, a defense official said:

"The likelihood is 99 percent that if the Russians didn't work at that
facility, they had helped create a specific task force within Mukhabarat to
do so."

The official said the Russians included members of the elite Alpha unit of
the spetsnaz. The unit was in charge of safeguarding the weapons sent to
Iraq from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.

The commandos also conducted counterintelligence activities designed to
prevent U.S. and Western intelligence agencies from learning about the
transfers.

The soldiers were under the command of the GRU military intelligence service
and operated in plain clothes while in Iraq.

The Russians worked at a computerized command center in central Baghdad near
the Russian Embassy.

A commercial satellite photograph of a Russian IL-76 transport at Baghdad
airport taken 48 hours before the U.S.-led invasion in March 20, 2003 is
believed to show the Russians leaving Iraq.

Harold Hough, a private satellite photo analyst, said the Russian jet was
spotted next to warehouse at a time that the airport was nearly empty. "My
thought was that the Russians were eager to get something out of Iraq
quickly," Hough said. "But, it is quite possible that the aircraft was used
to transport the Russian forces."

Source: Geostrategy

 
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