US pilot helped Iraqis in the war imposed by US on Iran
| US pilot helped Iraqis in the war imposed on Iran Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:25:49 By Robert Windrem presstv.com/ | |
Rick Francona, now an NBC News analyst, reveals for the first time his role in recruiting Iraqi generals for a secret CIA operation in the country to overthrow Saddam Hussein and explains why he thinks the US should try to stop the execution of the former Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed who awaits his death penalty for war crimes. Francona has revealed that the CIA during Saddam Hussein's ruling was working on a secret operation known as "DBACHILLES" which was a clandestine plot dedicated to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. “DBACHILLES was based on what the CIA assumed to be the dictator's Achilles' heel. Saddam believed military was more loyal to the nation than it was to him. That was one reason why he had set up the Republican Guard and the Special Security Organization as well as a host of intelligence and counter intelligence organs. The military, the CIA believed, was vulnerable to recruiting pitches that played on their patriotism; therefore, we at the CIA tried to contact as many Iraqi military officers as we could to convince them that they should not fight when and if an invasion or coup attempt occurred." During 1995-96, Francona was temporarily assigned to CIA from Defense Intelligence Agency. He was perfectly equipped for the duty. He was fluent in Arabic and had worked out of the defense attaché office in Baghdad at the end of the Iran-Iraq War. As a Defense Intelligence Agency official, he had worked as America's liaison officer to Iraq's Directorate of Military Intelligence. He traveled extensively observing Iraqi combat operations against Iranian forces, and even flew sorties with the Iraqi air force. He had shown Iraqi intelligence officials US satellite photos of the Iran-Iraq battlefield and was also informed of the fact that Iraq had used nerve gas on Iranian troops in 1988. During the Persian Gulf War he got another view of Iraq's military. He served as General Norman Schwarzkopf's translator, reading intelligence reports, briefing Schwarzkopf, and ultimately translating Schwarzkopf's commands to defeated Iraqi generals, one of whom turned out to be Hashim. The CIA set him up in Kurdistan which was no longer under Saddam's control. Working out of a heavily sandbagged house in Sal-ah-din, Francona worked with Kurdish officials and ran several operations, training Kurdish fighters, extricating the family of an Iraqi nuclear scientist and meeting regularly, even daily, with Kurdish leaders. At the time, Talabani was head of the PUK, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the main Kurdish opposition group. “Part of our mission was supporting Iraqi Kurds and other opposition groups operating out of northern Iraq, also other countries in the region," He said Francona explained that during a meeting with Talabani, he revealed his contacts with a senior member of Saddam's regime who was willing to work with the CIA in removing him from the office. This senior Iraqi official turned out to be Hashim. Francona notes that there is ample evidence that shows Hashim provided help for CIA operation. He even volunteered to have communications gear placed at his estate north of Baghdad in preparation for a coup attempt. To this former CIA agent the execution of another comrade would be disastrous, for it might set a bad example for other disloyal people around the world who are willing to work for CIA. “This sets a really bad precedent for people who are willing to cooperate with the United States. If they're willing to cooperate and then they find themselves justice in their own country, why would anybody cooperate with us in the future?” MMS/MG |
Posted by USHOSTAGE1 at 10/13/2007 2:51 AM 
Categories: 10news, aipac.com, Government, AIPAC, centcom, Navy, Marines, aipac.org, San Diego, Pentagon, White House, ATTORNEY, central command, Army, Defense, MI6, CIA, Military, Air Force
Categories: 10news, aipac.com, Government, AIPAC, centcom, Navy, Marines, aipac.org, San Diego, Pentagon, White House, ATTORNEY, central command, Army, Defense, MI6, CIA, Military, Air Force
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