Sources: Russia might
have helped top Iraqi officials get out of Iraq
09-04-2003
Al
Bawaba has learnt from various sources that Russia
might have helped top Iraqi officials get out of Iraq as
part of a Russian diplomatic convoy that left Baghdad
Sunday. Russian ambassador Vladimir Titorenko had left
Baghdad and arrived in Damascus, Syria, on Monday,
claiming that US forces had fired on his diplomatic
convoy as it left the Iraqi capital.
Surprisingly, the Russian diplomat returned to
the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, officially to bring out an
embassy driver wounded in the incident and a diplomat
who stayed to look after the hospitalized victim.
However, well-informed sources have told Al
Bawaba that the real goal of the Russian convoy
journey to Syria was to provide a safe haven for senior
Iraqi officials who feared to be prosecuted by the
American forces.
It should be noted that earlier
this week a leading British newspaper reported that
Syria is the Pentagon's next likely target for "regime
change". American officials were convinced that Syrian
President, Bashar Assad had actively collaborated with
the ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and agreed to
take weapons, including Scud missiles, from him so they
would not be discovered in Iraq by U.N. inspectors.
"Significant equipment, assets and perhaps even
expertise was transferred, the first signs of which
appeared in August or September 2002," a Bush
administration official told The Telegraph. "It
is quite possible that Iraqi nuclear scientists went to
Syria and that Saddam's regime may retain part of its
army there."
Meanwhile, reports in Russian
newspapers suggested Wednesday that the secret archives
of Saddam could already be in Moscow, despite the CIA's
attempt to block them near Baghdad on Sunday.
The Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that the
US rangers' attack on the Russian Ambassador's convoy
near Baghdad was a clash between SVR, Russian's Foreign
Intelligence Service, and the CIA.
Russia had
asked for a safe passage for its Ambassador's convoy to
move from Baghdad to Syria, but a "Predator" drone had
been hovering over the convoy all along the way,
according to the Russian daily. The report also denied
any case of mistaken identity involved in the attack on
the convoy.
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