- MOSCOW - Former Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein cut a deal with the United States before the March 2003
invasion of Iraq, former Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov said in
an interview published on Thursday.
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- "There was an understanding with the Americans,
as paradoxical as it may seem," Primakov told the Russian daily Gazeta
in a lengthy interview.
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- "Why weren't the bridges of the Tigris blown up
when the American tanks approached Baghdad? Why weren't Iraqi aviation
and tanks used, and where are they now?" asked Primakov, a former
head of the Russian secret service and a specialist in Arab affairs who
was formerly on good terms with Saddam.
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- "Why was there an immediate ceasefire? Why was there
practically no resistance a year ago?" he added.
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- Primakov, who now heads Russia's chamber of trade and
industry, also cast doubt on the authenticity of footage of Saddam's reported
capture that circled the world on December 14.
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- "They showed two soldiers with guns with palm trees
in the background near the hole (where Saddam was reportedly hiding). At
that time of year, date palms are never in bloom," he said.
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- "Finally, any man can tell you that such a long
beard (as Saddam had when he was reportedly caught) could not grow in seven
months," he said.
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- "All evidence suggests that Saddam surrendered earlier
and the story of the hole was invented later," he said.
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- Primakov, who was also Russian foreign minister, made
two secret trips to Iraq at the request of President Vladimir Putin, shortly
before the invasion by US and British troops.
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- http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1547794,00.html
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