Putin Warned Bush of Saddam's Planned Attack on the US - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

seretogis · 06-18-2004, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Putin Says Russia Gave U.S. Intel on Iraq
Jun 18, 2:07 PM (ET)
By BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA

ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday his government warned Washington that Saddam Hussein's regime was preparing attacks in the United States and its interests abroad - an assertion that appears to bolster President Bush's contention that Iraq was a threat.

Putin emphasized that the intelligence didn't cause Russia to waver from its firm opposition to the U.S.-led war last year, but his statement was the second this month in which he has offered at least some support for Bush on Iraq.

"After Sept. 11, 2001, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, the Russian special services ... received information that officials from Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist attacks in the United States and outside it against the U.S. military and other interests," Putin said.

"Despite that information ... Russia's position on Iraq remains unchanged," he said in the Kazakh capital, Astana, after regional economic and security summits. He said Russia didn't have any information that Saddam's regime had actually been behind any terrorist acts.

"It's one thing to have information that Saddam's regime is preparing terrorist attacks, (but) we didn't have information that it was involved in any known terrorist attacks," he said.

Putin didn't elaborate on any details of the alleged plots or mention whether they were tied to al-Qaida. He said Bush had personally thanked one of the leaders of Russia's intelligence agencies for the information but that he couldn't comment on how critical it was in the U.S. decision to invade Iraq.

In Washington, a U.S. official said Putin's information did not add to what the United States already knew about Saddam's intentions.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Putin's tip didn't give a time or place for a possible attack.

Bush alleged Thursday that Saddam had "numerous contacts" with al-Qaida and said Iraqi agents had met with the terror network's leader, Osama bin Laden, in Sudan.

Saddam "was a threat because he had terrorist connections - not only al-Qaida connections, but other connections to terrorist organizations," Bush said.

However, a commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported this week that while there were contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq, they did not appear to have produced "a collaborative relationship."

Also Thursday, a top Russian diplomat called for international inspectors to resolve conclusively the question of whether Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction.

"This problem must be resolved ... because to a great extent it became the pretext for the start of the war against Iraq," the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov as saying. He said such a finding would allow the U.N. Security Council to "finally close the dossier on Iraqi weapons."

In the wake of the invasion of Iraq, Putin sharply rebuked the United States for going to war despite opposition within the U.N. Security Council and said the threat posed to international security by the war was greater than that posed by Saddam.

But Putin's relationship with Bush is warm by the accounts of both leaders, and last week he said he has no patience for those who criticize Bush on Iraq.

"I don't pay attention to such publications," Putin said of media criticism of Bush at the end of the Group of Eight summit in the United States, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Putin said opponents who criticize Bush on Iraq "don't have any kind of moral right. ... They conducted exactly the same kind of policy in Yugoslavia."

Russia vehemently opposed the NATO bombing attacks on Yugoslavia in 1999, which the United States pushed for under President Clinton.

I'm sure that this information won't sway some, but it is at the very least interesting to know that it was more than the British and the US who had [faulty?] intelligence that Saddam was working against the US and its interests. Should we have waited for thousands of our people to die before going in, or do you now think we did the right thing to put an end to his regime?

onetime2 · 06-18-2004, 02:44 PM

I am certain there is quite a bit undiscovered as yet about all that went into Bush's decision making. This is only one piece. But just remember, Bush lied this is all a big plot to get revenge for the fact that Hussein targeted Bush the first. :rollseyes:

djtestudo · 06-18-2004, 03:59 PM

Yeah, we wouldn't want little things like facts and truth to get in the way of everyone's believing he lied

stgmngr · 06-18-2004, 05:14 PM

Well let me think... would Putin rather have Kerry in the White House or "good old boy... George Bush"??

I am sure that when history looks at this too... they will find quite a bit of spin put on this supposed "intel from Russia"

Locobot · 06-18-2004, 06:29 PM

HA! Putin probably got the same faulty information from his people inside the CIA!

djtestudo · 06-18-2004, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by stgmngr
Well let me think... would Putin rather have Kerry in the White House or "good old boy... George Bush"??

I am sure that when history looks at this too... they will find quite a bit of spin put on this supposed "intel from Russia"

Yeah, the one he could easily manipulate, or the one who stands his ground and tells the French, Germans and Russians to fuck off. I wonder...

filtherton · 06-18-2004, 08:53 PM

I'll take the bait:

Quote:

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Putin's tip didn't give a time or place for a possible attack.

Sounds like a solid basis for going to war.

Putin: Uh dude, saddam doesn't like you and is probably going to try to attack your country.

Bush: Yeah? Do you have anything specific? Details?

Putin: Nope, just a hunch.

Bush: Fuck it. This is just the kind of circumstantial, half-baked evidence that i've been looking for to my justify neocon handjob/foreign policies. Can i count on your support, pooty poo?

Putin: Nope, in fact, despite warning you about the iraqi "imminent threat", (heh heh), i'm going to come out strongly against your war plans. That's what friends are for.

Bush: Your warning/betrayal is a sound basis for our warm relationship.

On a side note, how can you accuse those who are against this war as being thick-headed? How can you think that bush has been honest about this whole situation and not suffer from a thick skull yourself? I can link you a definition to the word irony if you want.

djtestudo · 06-18-2004, 09:25 PM

Because, we had absolutely NOTHING else to go on...

Hwed · 06-19-2004, 01:25 PM

Quote:

quote:
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Putin's tip didn't give a time or place for a possible attack.

Sounds like a solid basis for going to war.

And yet, we didn't have a time or place for 9/11 either, did we? In hindsight, it might have been a good idea to prevent that, right?

Although the New York Times would have you believe otherwise, we didn't go into Iraq to get revenge for 9/11. We went into Iraq to prevent the next 9/11. Saddam Hussein was the greatest threat the US faced post-9/11, and thanks to George Bush doing the right thing, he's now a non-issue.

Quote:

Well let me think... would Putin rather have Kerry in the White House or "good old boy... George Bush"??

I'd appeal for liberals to be intellectually honest with themselves, but quite frankly, it's more fun watching them bend over backwards trying to come up with wild conspiracy theories.

At the end of the day, I'm not too worried. I have faith that come November, the American people will see through the partisan attacks by Democrats who have politicized the war because they don't want Bush to succeed.

The Democrats have no plan, no alternative, no constructive vision to offer, because they know Bush is doing the right thing. They just want him out so they can take credit for it instead of a Republican.

JamesS · 06-20-2004, 03:02 AM

I'd say you have to treat any such revelations of this sort (at this stage) with a grain of salt. Question why the administration did not use such information to build their case before the war; evidence that was not wholly speculative would have shored up public support.

Consider this from the LA Times: "It's apparent that Russians and President Putin are interested in a second term for Bush," said Liliya Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Center. "We've always had good relations with Republicans. We dislike Democrats, because Democrats always care about democracy in Russia."

My guess would be Putin's playing politics in keeping his country out of harm's way concerning troop deployment but also lending support to the favored man (who calls him Pooty-poot). But who knows what the hell is going on at this point, really.

filtherton · 06-20-2004, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by djtestudo
Because, we had absolutely NOTHING else to go on...

You said just what i was thinking. Cheers.

06-18-2004, 02:44 PM	#2 (permalink)
onetime2 Junkie Location: NJ	I am certain there is quite a bit undiscovered as yet about all that went into Bush's decision making. This is only one piece. But just remember, Bush lied this is all a big plot to get revenge for the fact that Hussein targeted Bush the first. :rollseyes: __________________ Strive to be more curious than ignorant.

06-18-2004, 03:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
djtestudo Baltimoron Location: Beeeeeautiful Bel Air, MD	Yeah, we wouldn't want little things like facts and truth to get in the way of everyone's believing he lied __________________ "Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen." --Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

06-18-2004, 09:25 PM	#8 (permalink)
djtestudo Baltimoron Location: Beeeeeautiful Bel Air, MD	Because, we had absolutely NOTHING else to go on... __________________ "Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen." --Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

06-20-2004, 03:02 AM	#10 (permalink)
JamesS Crazy Location: Land of the Hanging Chad	I'd say you have to treat any such revelations of this sort (at this stage) with a grain of salt. Question why the administration did not use such information to build their case before the war; evidence that was not wholly speculative would have shored up public support. Consider this from the LA Times: "It's apparent that Russians and President Putin are interested in a second term for Bush," said Liliya Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Center. "We've always had good relations with Republicans. We dislike Democrats, because Democrats always care about democracy in Russia." My guess would be Putin's playing politics in keeping his country out of harm's way concerning troop deployment but also lending support to the favored man (who calls him Pooty-poot). But who knows what the hell is going on at this point, really. __________________ The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives. -- Albert Schweitzer

06-18-2004, 05:14 PM	#4 (permalink)
stgmngr Upright	Well let me think... would Putin rather have Kerry in the White House or "good old boy... George Bush"?? I am sure that when history looks at this too... they will find quite a bit of spin put on this supposed "intel from Russia"

06-18-2004, 06:29 PM	#5 (permalink)
Locobot is awesome!	HA! Putin probably got the same faulty information from his people inside the CIA!