JUST HELP AND YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING:

German Intelligence Gave U.S. Iraqi Defense Plan, Report Says (MICHAEL R. GORDON, 2/27/06, NY Times)

Two German intelligence agents in Baghdad obtained a copy of Saddam Hussein's plan to defend the Iraqi capital, which a German official passed on to American commanders a month before the invasion, according to a classified study by the United States military.

In providing the Iraqi document, German intelligence officials offered more significant assistance to the United States than their government has publicly acknowledged. The plan gave the American military an extraordinary window into Iraq's top-level deliberations, including where and how Mr. Hussein planned to deploy his most loyal troops.

The German role is not the only instance in which nations that publicly cautioned against the war privately facilitated it. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, for example, provided more help than they have disclosed. Egypt gave access for refueling planes, while Saudi Arabia allowed American special operations forces to initiate attacks from its territory, United States military officials say.

George W. Bush's entire political career is premised on accepting blame and not insisting on credit so long as his own ends keep advancing.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 26, 2006 11:59 PM