About Russia's Involvement

The Washington Times's Bill Gertz is reporting tonight, via Drudge's flashing headline, reporting that Russia aided Saddam's troops in removing much of his weaponry in advance of American advancement, including 380 tons of RDX and HMX.

"Russian special forces troops moved many of Saddam Hussein's weapons and related goods out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military operation, The Washington Times has learned.

"John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said in an interview that he believes the Russian troops, working with Iraqi intelligence, 'almost certainly' removed the high-explosive material that went missing from the Al-Qaqaa facility, south of Baghdad."

It's nearing eleven pm in the East, so we'll have to see how this unfolds overnight, in the European press, and tomorrow here. But if this is accurate, I'd posit that it shows that the UN knew of this removal and worked with the Russians and Baathists to hide the removal.

Gertz reports: "The Russian arms-removal program was initiated after Yevgeny Primakov, the former Russian intelligence chief, could not convince Saddam to give in to U.S. and Western demands, this official said."

The arms were taken to Syria: "Mr. Shaw said he believes that the withdrawal of Russian-made weapons and explosives from Iraq was part of plan by Saddam to set up a 'redoubt' in Syria that could be used as a base for launching pro-Saddam insurgency operations in Iraq.

"The Russian units were dispatched beginning in January 2003 and by March had destroyed hundreds of pages of documents on Russian arms supplies to Iraq while dispersing arms to Syria, the second official said.

"Besides their own weapons, the Russians were supplying Saddam with arms made in Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria and other Eastern European nations, he said.

"'Whatever was not buried was put on lorries and sent to the Syrian border,' the defense official said."

This has tremendous implications for the ongoing presidential race here, as it demonstrates, if accurate, that the mendacity of the Times and CBS is even greater than we'd first thought. And it exposes the role of Syria's Baathist regime, a charge that has been flying about since the Iraq fell to coalition forces last year. Gertz's piece concludes:

"Defense officials said the Russians can provide information on what happened to the Iraqi weapons and explosives that were transported out of the country. Officials believe the Russians also can explain what happened to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs."