Pre-Regime Change: CIA Recruited Saddam’s Defense Minister
Former Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed.
Baghdad, Sept 12-The political analyst of the NBC news, Rick Francona, spoke for the first time about his role in recruiting generals from the former Iraqi army to work for the CIA, the U.S. Radio Sawa reported on Friday.
“For more than a year, Rick Francona, then an Air Force lieutenant colonel, was part of a secret CIA task force working to overthrow Saddam Hussein, the Bill Clinton administration’s failed attempt at regime change in Iraq,” the radio said in a report quoting the MSNBC news.
Francona said that the U.S. should try to stop the hanging of former Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed, one of the generals recruited in that effort.
Hashim has been convicted of war crimes by an Iraqi court and is scheduled to hang in the next few days, unless the US military can quietly get the Iraqi government to commute his sentence.
I moved in and out of northern Iraq, as well as the countries bordering Iraq,” says Francona. “We were involved in what was known inside the Agency as ‘DBACHILLES’ – the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.”
“We at CIA had tried to contact and co-opt as many Iraqi military officers as we could, hoping to convince them that they should not fight when and if an invasion or coup attempt occurred. That program had some successes,” Radio Sawa quoted Francona as saying.
Francona says that he does not know what help Hashim provided, but notes that there is ample evidence he offered to help and that he was told that Hashim even volunteered to have communications gear hidden at his estate north of Baghdad in preparation for a coup attempt.
“Moreover, Jalal Talabani, the man who brought Hashim to the CIA’s attention, and now President of Iraq, has said publicly that the defense minister “cooperated” in the effort,” Francona noted.
“DBACHILLES”–the DB was the CIA designator for Iraqi operations—was based on what the agency thought was the dictator’s Achilles’ heel: a military whose loyalty even Saddam questioned. Saddam understood the professional military was more loyal to the nation than it was to him.
Full VOI story HERE
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So is Hillary now going to stick to her story about the Iraq war, now that we know that her husband considered Saddam such a threat, that he tried to affect regime change in Iraq?
I’m not a fan of CIA people that run their mouths. I’ve known a number of CIA types who well into their retirement refuse to disclose any info about missions that they were involved with.
October 12th, 2007 at 5:52 pmStretch the goatfucker’s neck. He was tried and convicted of warcrimes by the Iraqi Gov. FGS! If the preponderance of evidence fell on the side of cooperation, then Talabani himself would intervene on his behalf. The Clintoon CIA assholes need to STFU!! Hang ‘im high!
October 12th, 2007 at 6:10 pmI’m suspect that he wasn’t playing us within Iraq and telling Saddam what was up all along. If what we’ve had for the last 4-1/2 years is our benefit from him, it sure doesn’t amount to squat.
Did he greet us as liberators back in 2003?
October 12th, 2007 at 6:43 pm“…they should not fight when and if an invasion or coup attempt occurred.”
Sooo, planning and actual operations for the 2003 invasion were started by Slick Willy.
October 12th, 2007 at 9:50 pmInteresting.
Kinda makes all the bleating from the dems saying how Bush was the evil mastermind for invading Iraq hollow now. Billy was in on it too.
If he did cooperate and has taken no action against us or the IA and IP then he should not be put to death.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:07 pmWhat’s missing in all of this is the fact that when you free a country and give their people control of their government, those same newly-freed people now have the right to run their own affairs as they see fit. So, while we may not always agree with their judgements, it’s their law, their justice system, and their choice.
Giving a people “freedom” means also living with the choices that said freedom makes. Despite all the criticism,
October 13th, 2007 at 3:22 amthe Iraqis are making their own choices and we should step back and let them decide what is or is not in the best interests of the Iraqi people.
They say he hangs, he hangs. Regardless of past CIA ties.
October 13th, 2007 at 6:23 pm