U.S. to ask Russia about Iraq report

On Meet the Press yesterday Condoleezza Rice must have told Tim Russert at least 20 times that we would be talking to the Russian government about their alleged espionage against the US at the onset of the Iraq war but until that time the accusations fell into the category of, "wait and see." I think the US regards Russia now in the same way we regard China; they are too big to take down militarily and with their markets opening to US goods, we cannot afford to alienate them. Instead our lot is to put up with a lot of crap and occasionally end up with egg on our face. When this story is all said and done I suspect that once again GW will be made to look like he hasn't the faintest clue what he is talking about when he calls Vladimir Putin a "good friend."

As far as what the report is actually saying, my instincts tell it's all more than likely true. After reading Yosseff Bodansky's "Secret History of the Iraq War," and reading how much the Russians did in fact help the Hussein regime, plus the allegations that they helped move WMD's out of Iraq before any of our boots hit the ground, to me, this is just more evidence against the Russia government.

Given the kind of business Hussein and Russia were in together (along with France) it's not like it would be out of character for the Russians to have helped the Iraq's in the first place. But like Madam Secretary said, we'll just have to talk to the Russians and see what happens. I suspect they'll be a lot of white washing and hopes that this story dies in the press seeing as if the Russians did spy, there's not a whole we can do these days to punish Russia. Hell, we can't do much to change Iran or N. Korea never mind our former Cold War adversary.

The Bush administration will ask Russia about a report that Moscow turned over information on American troop movements and other military plans to Saddam Hussein during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.

''Any implication that there were those from a foreign government who may have been passing information to the Iraqis prior to the invasion would be, of course, very worrying,'' Rice said on CNN's ''Late Edition.''

''I would think the Russians would want to take that very seriously as well,'' she said.

A G-8 boycott?

A leading Senate Democrat said if the report is found to be true, the administration should reassess its relationship with Russia and reconsider President Bush's participation in a July summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, of the world's economic powers.

Rice declined to speculate on whether Russia's actions, as detailed in a Pentagon report based on captured Iraqi documents, resulted in casualties among U.S. troops or what Russian President Vladimir Putin knew about any possible Russian involvement.

''We want to take a real hard look at the documents and then raise it with the Russian government,'' Rice said on NBC's ''Meet the Press.''

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service has dismissed the allegation that Moscow provided information to Saddam, whose government was toppled in the invasion.

'Discouraging . . . disgusting'

''I think we need an entirely new assessment of our relationships with Russia, should this be true,'' Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) told CBS' ''Face the Nation.'' He questioned whether Bush should attend the G-8 meeting in summer.

The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, said if the report proved true, ''it would be obviously plenty discouraging as well as disgusting'' and the United States should find ways to let the Russians know ''that kind of conduct is not going to be acceptable.''

A Pentagon report last week said two captured Iraqi documents indicate that Russia obtained information from sources ''inside the American Central Command'' in Qatar. Russia passed battlefield intelligence to Saddam through the former Russian ambassador in Baghdad, Vladimir Titorenko, the report said.

Calls to the Russian Foreign Minister on Sunday went unanswered.