OPERATION SARINDAR
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(Redirected from Russia and Saddam WMD allegations)
'Operation Sarindar' (meaning "emergency exit") was, allegedly, an operating procedure designed by Soviet military intelligence to get rid of all traces of chemical weapons delivered by the Soviets or produced under their guidance in Libya "if the Western imperialists ever got near them".
Former Romanian intelligence official Ion Mihai Pacepa stated that Operation Sarindar was prepared by the Soviet Union for Libya and similar plan existed and had been implemented in Iraq. Deputy Undersecretary of US Department of Defense John A. Shaw claimed that Russia was involved in hiding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The involvement of Russia in the removal of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was disputed by the Pentagon and by Russian Foreign Intelligence.
The involvement of Russia in the removal of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was also disputed by Senior Defense Department officialsMunitions Issue Dwarfs the Big Picture Bradley Graham Washington Post October 29, 2004, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Lawrence Di Rita and by former director of Russian Foreign Intelligence Yevgeny Primakov.
According to the allegations of the former Romanian Securitate general Ion Mihai Pacepa, "we wanted to make sure they would never be traced back to us, and we also wanted to frustrate the West by not giving them anything they could make propaganda with." He claimed that operation Sarindar planned for Libya included the following components :
★ "All chemical weapons were to be immediately burned or buried deep at sea. Technological documentation, however, would be preserved in microfiche buried in waterproof containers for future reconstruction. Chemical weapons, especially those produced in Third World countries, which lack sophisticated production facilities, often do not retain lethal properties after a few months on the shelf and are routinely dumped anyway."
★ "The plan included an elaborate propaganda routine. Anyone accusing Moammar Gadhafi of possessing chemical weapons would be ridiculed. Lies, all lies! Come to Libya and see!"
Ion Mihai Pacepa claimed that he was told by Romanian President Nicolae CeauÅŸescu, KGB chairman Yury Andropov, and Yevgeny Primakov about the existence of a similar plan for Iraq. [1]
Pacepa has alleged that the Russian GRU agency helped Saddam Hussein to destroy, hide, or transfer his chemical weapons prior to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.[2][3] The claims were made by former Deputy Undersecretary of US Defense Department John A. Shaw and former Romanian high-rank intelligence official Ion Mihai Pacepa. The claims have been denied by Deputy Assistant Secretary of US Defense for Public Affairs Larry DiRita and former Russian foreign intelligence director Yevgeniy Primakov.
Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw, a "top Pentagon official who was responsible for tracking Saddam Hussein's weapons programs before and after the 2003 liberation of Iraq," asserted in October 2004 that Russia helped Saddam Hussein "clean up" his weapons of mass destruction stockpiles "to prevent the United States from discovering them."3
On February 18, 2006, Shaw "told an audience" at "a privately sponsored Intelligence Summit" in Alexandria, Virginia, that "The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went" to Syria and the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon.[4] "They were moved by Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) units out of uniform, that were specifically sent to Iraq to move the weaponry and eradicate any evidence of its existence," Shaw said.
After accusing Russian special forces of helping Saddam to remove his WMD, Shaw was asked to resign for "exceeding his authority" in disclosing the information, a charge he called "specious." The ''Financial Times'' reported that "The Russian embassy in Washington rejected the claims as 'nonsense', saying there were no Russian military in the country at the time. Mr Shaw, who heads the Pentagon’s international armament and technology trade directorate, has not provided evidence for his claims and the Pentagon distanced itself from his remarks."Russians 'May Have Taken Iraq Explosives', Financial Times 28 October, 2004
Earlier (in 2004), Shaw said he made the accusations as a political move to help candidate George W. Bush, who he felt was being "crucified" by the revelations that over 350 tons of conventional explosives had gone missing in Iraq as a result of the U.S. invasion. Thus "getting the truth out instantly was more important than process", he said.
Former Romanian Securitate General Ion Mihai Pacepa supported the story of John A. Shaw. He said: "As a former Romanian spy chief who used to take orders from the Soviet KGB, it is perfectly obvious to me that Russia is behind the evanescence of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. After all, Russia helped Saddam get his hands on them in the first place." "The U.S. military in fact, has already found the only thing that would have been allowed to survive under the classic Soviet "Sarindar" plan to liquidate weapons arsenals in the event of defeat in war — the technological documents showing how to reproduce weapons stocks in just a few weeks", he claimed.
He speculated further, saying that "Such a plan has undoubtedly been in place since August 1995 — when Saddam's son-in-law, Gen. Hussein Kamel, who ran Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological programs for 10 years, defected to Jordan. That August, UNSCOM and IAEA inspectors searched a chicken farm owned by Kamel's family and found more than one hundred metal trunks and boxes containing documentation dealing with all categories of weapons, including nuclear. Caught red-handed, Iraq at last admitted to its "extensive biological warfare program, including weaponization," issued a "Full, Final and Complete Disclosure Report" and turned over documents about the nerve agent VX and nuclear weapons." However, this report was fake, according to Pacepa.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Larry DiRita called Shaw's charges "absurd and without any foundation." DiRita noted that Shaw "has been directed on several occasions to produce evidence of his wide-ranging and fantastic charges and provide it to the DoD inspector general. To my knowledge, he has not done so."[5] Senior Defense Department officials reportedly told the ''Washington Post'' that Shaw's claims regarding the Al Qa'qaa facility had "no basis in fact." And ''USA Today'' reported that "Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of State, said Thursday that he 'has never seen any such information' [confirming Shaw's theories].[6] The London ''Financial Times'' reported that "Mr Shaw, who heads the Pentagon's international armament and technology trade directorate, has not provided evidence for his claims and the Pentagon distanced itself from his remarks."
The Russians also denied Shaw's and Pacepa's allegations. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that "The 78-year-old Pacepa's article was not taken seriously at the time because he was the author of rather fanciful memoirs and had long ago been thoroughly debriefed by U.S. intelligence." The paper also reported that Evgeny Primakov, whom Shaw claims directed the operation in Baghdad from December 2002 to March 2003, responded specifically to Shaw's claims:
The Iraq Survey Group investigated these and other allegations that the Russians had helped Saddam move weapons into Syria. (See Post-Saddam WMD search.) Charles Duelfer, who headed the group, summarized the group's conclusion: "Based on the evidence available at present, ISG judged that it was unlikely that an official transfer of WMD material from Iraq to Syria took place."[7]
In reply to DiRita's denials, Shaw alleged that the Bush administration covered up the intelligence data he revealed. "Larry DiRita made sure that this story would never grow legs," he said. "He whispered sotto voce [quietly] to journalists that there was no substance to my information and that it was the product of an unbalanced mind."4
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a Fox News military analyst, speculated that the reason for the alleged cover up by Bush administration was Iran. He told NewsMax that "With Iran moving faster than anyone thought in its nuclear programs, the administration needed the Russians, the Chinese and the French, and was not interested in information that would make them look bad."4
Ariel Cohen from the Heritage Foundation asserted that Shaw's claims "are based on classified information and have yet to be further substantiated."[8]
1. Pacepa defected to the United States in 1978. Yevgeny Primakov started working for KGB under codename MAKSIM in 1960s, see Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West'', Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7
2. Ex-spy fingers Russians on WMD Ion Mihai Pacepa The Washington Times October 2, 2003
3. "Russia tied to Iraq's missing arms," Bill Gertz The Washington Times
4. Ex-Official: Russia Moved Saddam's WMD NewsMax February 19, 2006
5. Pentagon ousts official who tied Russia, Iraq arms Bill Gertz, The Washington Times
6. "U.S. nixes theory on missing weapons," ''USA Today'' (October 29 2004) p. 4A.
7. US team concludes Saddam had no WMD Financial Times 27 April 2005
8. Russian Spying for Saddam Demands a Careful U.S. Response Ariel Cohen March 31, 2006
★ Iraq disarmament crisis
★ Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
★ Post-Saddam WMD search
★ Iraq Survey Group
★ Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy
'Operation Sarindar' (meaning "emergency exit") was, allegedly, an operating procedure designed by Soviet military intelligence to get rid of all traces of chemical weapons delivered by the Soviets or produced under their guidance in Libya "if the Western imperialists ever got near them".
Disputed allegations
Former Romanian intelligence official Ion Mihai Pacepa stated that Operation Sarindar was prepared by the Soviet Union for Libya and similar plan existed and had been implemented in Iraq. Deputy Undersecretary of US Department of Defense John A. Shaw claimed that Russia was involved in hiding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The involvement of Russia in the removal of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was disputed by the Pentagon and by Russian Foreign Intelligence.
The involvement of Russia in the removal of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was also disputed by Senior Defense Department officialsMunitions Issue Dwarfs the Big Picture Bradley Graham Washington Post October 29, 2004, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Lawrence Di Rita and by former director of Russian Foreign Intelligence Yevgeny Primakov.
Operational procedure
According to the allegations of the former Romanian Securitate general Ion Mihai Pacepa, "we wanted to make sure they would never be traced back to us, and we also wanted to frustrate the West by not giving them anything they could make propaganda with." He claimed that operation Sarindar planned for Libya included the following components :
★ "All chemical weapons were to be immediately burned or buried deep at sea. Technological documentation, however, would be preserved in microfiche buried in waterproof containers for future reconstruction. Chemical weapons, especially those produced in Third World countries, which lack sophisticated production facilities, often do not retain lethal properties after a few months on the shelf and are routinely dumped anyway."
★ "The plan included an elaborate propaganda routine. Anyone accusing Moammar Gadhafi of possessing chemical weapons would be ridiculed. Lies, all lies! Come to Libya and see!"
Ion Mihai Pacepa claimed that he was told by Romanian President Nicolae CeauÅŸescu, KGB chairman Yury Andropov, and Yevgeny Primakov about the existence of a similar plan for Iraq. [1]
Allegations regarding Iraq
Pacepa has alleged that the Russian GRU agency helped Saddam Hussein to destroy, hide, or transfer his chemical weapons prior to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.[2][3] The claims were made by former Deputy Undersecretary of US Defense Department John A. Shaw and former Romanian high-rank intelligence official Ion Mihai Pacepa. The claims have been denied by Deputy Assistant Secretary of US Defense for Public Affairs Larry DiRita and former Russian foreign intelligence director Yevgeniy Primakov.
Allegations by John A. Shaw
Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw, a "top Pentagon official who was responsible for tracking Saddam Hussein's weapons programs before and after the 2003 liberation of Iraq," asserted in October 2004 that Russia helped Saddam Hussein "clean up" his weapons of mass destruction stockpiles "to prevent the United States from discovering them."3
On February 18, 2006, Shaw "told an audience" at "a privately sponsored Intelligence Summit" in Alexandria, Virginia, that "The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went" to Syria and the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon.[4] "They were moved by Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) units out of uniform, that were specifically sent to Iraq to move the weaponry and eradicate any evidence of its existence," Shaw said.
After accusing Russian special forces of helping Saddam to remove his WMD, Shaw was asked to resign for "exceeding his authority" in disclosing the information, a charge he called "specious." The ''Financial Times'' reported that "The Russian embassy in Washington rejected the claims as 'nonsense', saying there were no Russian military in the country at the time. Mr Shaw, who heads the Pentagon’s international armament and technology trade directorate, has not provided evidence for his claims and the Pentagon distanced itself from his remarks."Russians 'May Have Taken Iraq Explosives', Financial Times 28 October, 2004
Earlier (in 2004), Shaw said he made the accusations as a political move to help candidate George W. Bush, who he felt was being "crucified" by the revelations that over 350 tons of conventional explosives had gone missing in Iraq as a result of the U.S. invasion. Thus "getting the truth out instantly was more important than process", he said.
Allegations by Ion Mihai Pacepa
Former Romanian Securitate General Ion Mihai Pacepa supported the story of John A. Shaw. He said: "As a former Romanian spy chief who used to take orders from the Soviet KGB, it is perfectly obvious to me that Russia is behind the evanescence of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. After all, Russia helped Saddam get his hands on them in the first place." "The U.S. military in fact, has already found the only thing that would have been allowed to survive under the classic Soviet "Sarindar" plan to liquidate weapons arsenals in the event of defeat in war — the technological documents showing how to reproduce weapons stocks in just a few weeks", he claimed.
He speculated further, saying that "Such a plan has undoubtedly been in place since August 1995 — when Saddam's son-in-law, Gen. Hussein Kamel, who ran Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological programs for 10 years, defected to Jordan. That August, UNSCOM and IAEA inspectors searched a chicken farm owned by Kamel's family and found more than one hundred metal trunks and boxes containing documentation dealing with all categories of weapons, including nuclear. Caught red-handed, Iraq at last admitted to its "extensive biological warfare program, including weaponization," issued a "Full, Final and Complete Disclosure Report" and turned over documents about the nerve agent VX and nuclear weapons." However, this report was fake, according to Pacepa.
American response
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Larry DiRita called Shaw's charges "absurd and without any foundation." DiRita noted that Shaw "has been directed on several occasions to produce evidence of his wide-ranging and fantastic charges and provide it to the DoD inspector general. To my knowledge, he has not done so."[5] Senior Defense Department officials reportedly told the ''Washington Post'' that Shaw's claims regarding the Al Qa'qaa facility had "no basis in fact." And ''USA Today'' reported that "Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of State, said Thursday that he 'has never seen any such information' [confirming Shaw's theories].[6] The London ''Financial Times'' reported that "Mr Shaw, who heads the Pentagon's international armament and technology trade directorate, has not provided evidence for his claims and the Pentagon distanced itself from his remarks."
Russian response
The Russians also denied Shaw's and Pacepa's allegations. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that "The 78-year-old Pacepa's article was not taken seriously at the time because he was the author of rather fanciful memoirs and had long ago been thoroughly debriefed by U.S. intelligence." The paper also reported that Evgeny Primakov, whom Shaw claims directed the operation in Baghdad from December 2002 to March 2003, responded specifically to Shaw's claims:
Iraq Survey Group conclusion
The Iraq Survey Group investigated these and other allegations that the Russians had helped Saddam move weapons into Syria. (See Post-Saddam WMD search.) Charles Duelfer, who headed the group, summarized the group's conclusion: "Based on the evidence available at present, ISG judged that it was unlikely that an official transfer of WMD material from Iraq to Syria took place."[7]
Additional comments
In reply to DiRita's denials, Shaw alleged that the Bush administration covered up the intelligence data he revealed. "Larry DiRita made sure that this story would never grow legs," he said. "He whispered sotto voce [quietly] to journalists that there was no substance to my information and that it was the product of an unbalanced mind."4
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a Fox News military analyst, speculated that the reason for the alleged cover up by Bush administration was Iran. He told NewsMax that "With Iran moving faster than anyone thought in its nuclear programs, the administration needed the Russians, the Chinese and the French, and was not interested in information that would make them look bad."4
Ariel Cohen from the Heritage Foundation asserted that Shaw's claims "are based on classified information and have yet to be further substantiated."[8]
References
1. Pacepa defected to the United States in 1978. Yevgeny Primakov started working for KGB under codename MAKSIM in 1960s, see Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, ''The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West'', Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7
2. Ex-spy fingers Russians on WMD Ion Mihai Pacepa The Washington Times October 2, 2003
3. "Russia tied to Iraq's missing arms," Bill Gertz The Washington Times
4. Ex-Official: Russia Moved Saddam's WMD NewsMax February 19, 2006
5. Pentagon ousts official who tied Russia, Iraq arms Bill Gertz, The Washington Times
6. "U.S. nixes theory on missing weapons," ''USA Today'' (October 29 2004) p. 4A.
7. US team concludes Saddam had no WMD Financial Times 27 April 2005
8. Russian Spying for Saddam Demands a Careful U.S. Response Ariel Cohen March 31, 2006
See also
★ Iraq disarmament crisis
★ Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
★ Post-Saddam WMD search
★ Iraq Survey Group
★ Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy
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