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3/9/06

IHT: - InternatiGermany gave U.S. Saddam's war plan by Michael R.Gordon

For the full report go to International Herald Tribune or click on link

Germany gave U.S. Saddam's war plan - Europe by Michael Gordon

A German official passed a copy of Saddam Hussein's plan to defend Baghdad to U.S. commanders a month before the invasion of Iraq, according to a classified report by the U.S. military. In providing the Iraqi document, the German government offered more significant assistance to the United States than it has publicly acknowledged. The plan, obtained by two German intelligence agents in Baghdad, gave the U.S. military an extraordinary window into the regime's top-level deliberations, including where and how the Iraqi leader planned to deploy his most loyal troops. The German role is not the only instance in which nations that publicly cautioned against the war privately facilitated it. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, for example, provided more help than they have acknowledged. Egypt gave access for refueling planes, while Saudi Arabia allowed U.S. special operations forces to launch attacks from its territory.

But the German government was an especially vociferous critic of President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq. While the German authorities have said they had intelligence agents in Baghdad during the war, the government has insisted it provided only limited help to the U.S.-led coalition. In a report released Thursday, German officials said that much of the assistance was restricted to identifying civilian sites so they would not be attacked by mistake.

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