by DowneastDem
Mon Feb 27th, 2006 at 09:51:41 AM EST
Foreign minister Steinmeier now has some 'splainin' to do. Today's NYTimes had this bombshell on its front page:
Two German intelligence agents in Baghdad obtained a copy of Saddam Hussein's plan to defend the Iraqi capital, which a German official passed on to American commanders a month before the invasion, according to a classified study by the United States military.
In providing the Iraqi document, German intelligence officials offered more significant assistance to the United States than their government has publicly acknowledged. The plan gave the American military an extraordinary window into Iraq's top-level deliberations, including where and how Mr. Hussein planned to deploy his most loyal troops.
Just last week the government had issued a declassified report (pdf) which more or less seemed to exonerate the BND from an substantive contribution to the US invasion. All along, Steinmeier, who after all was responsible for the BND under the former Red-Green government in Berlin, has consistently denied any German intel support of the US military. Joschka Fischer also has professed to be "shocked" by the revelations. Were the Greens out of the loop all along? They are now calling for an independent investigation; looks like the other opposition parties will now go along with this now.
Promoted by Colman
