April 22, 2003

The London tabloid, The Daily Express, reports that CIA and MI6 operatives, along with SAS paramilitaries, teams carried suitcases full of gold bullion, US dollars, Swiss francs and euros to buy off Iraqi military and government leaders, threatening to kill those who refused to cooperate. The report is compiled from information from Stratfor, Le Monde, Al-Jazeera, and unnamed "intelligence sources."

The bilateral forces worked together in Joint Special Operations Task Forces. JSOTF operated undercover inside Iraq since before the war, "contacting Iraqi military, intelligence and secret police leaders to make them change sides." The same Mafia-like technique of huge bribes coupled with lethal threats was used in Afghanistan where Operation Jawbreaker led to the defection of senior warlords.

During the Iraq invasion, one of the most important "touches" was General Maher Sufyan, the head of the Republican Guard, who was evidently bought off as early as the second week of the invasion. According to the Express, Gen. Sufyan and other...

"...senior Republican Guard generals and commanders from the Special Republican Guard and the Iraqi security services betrayed Saddam and revealed his location on two occasions, leading to the 'decapitation' raids designed to assassinate him and his senior men.

"They then cut a secret deal agreeing to surrender in the second week of the war and sabotaged the attempts of Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, two of Saddam's key henchmen, to fight on."

Later, Gen. Sufyan was spirited away from the Al Rasheed airstrip, in south-east Baghdad, "to an unknown location," according to Le Monde and Al-Jazeera reports.

[Read the source...]

Related Links:

• 'CIA Led Way With Cash Handouts' (11/18/02 - Washington Post) - Excerpts from Bob Woodward's book, Bush at War, describing Operation Jawbreaker in Afghanistan.