Stewart Stogel
Thursday April 3, 2003

The source, who requested confidentiality, claims he knows the identities of several of the Russian "advisors" now in Iraq.

He explained that none of the Russian "advisors" are currently on active duty. They are retired Soviet/Russian army officers, some of whom once served duty in Iraq.

The Russian explained that President Vladimir Putin "is looking the other way" while this is going on.

He said that opposition to the Iraq war has grown in the Duma (parliament). The war has provided common ground for the far right and far left to unite. While Putin can handle either faction individually, together they can cause problems. He added that a Russian presidential election is scheduled for next year and that has increased the pressure on Putin.

The Russian "advisors" are believed to be working with senior Iraqi military planners in Baghdad. The Iraqis are said to have been told that to engage coalition forces in the open field "would be pointless," even though that's exactly what the Republican guard has recently done.

The Iraqis are said to have been advised to concentrate on a defense of the city of Baghdad. The strategy to date has been to employ enough Iraqi force "to slow down" but not stop coalition movements throughout the country.

As such, the Russian source says Iraq was advised to deploy no more than "1,000" troops to confront the coalition at any one time.

The Russian believes that Washington made a "tactical error" by deploying too few troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"The Americans are moving too fast. They take over (an Iraqi) town, then move on, They are not doing enough to secure the towns they had captured. As a result, you see Iraqi forces moving back into areas the Americans had (once) captured."

The source estimates that Washington will need about "450,000" troops to capture and secure Iraq.

At the time of the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, it was believed the coalition had about 300,000 men in the theatre. Recently, the Pentagon announced it would send 100,000 additional troops to the Gulf.

The strategy now being employed by the Iraqis and their Russian "advisors" is to force the U.S. military into an urban offensive within Baghdad.

This tactic would reduce the advantages the U.S. enjoys in men and equipment, explained the Russian: "The T-72 and T-80's (Russian tanks in the Iraqi army) are great for this kind of fighting."

The source also summized that while Iraq "could still use" any chemical or biological weapons it may have, the chances are now greatly reduced.

As U.S. forces move to within the city limits of Baghdad it is believed that civilian "fallout" from the use of any WMD may have convinced the Iraqi leadership to shelve their use, at least temporarily.

One weapon the Russian believes may see increased activity is the Chinese made Silkworm missile.

Iraq has more than 100 of the missiles which were legally purchased from Beijing.

"It is simple, it is nothing more than a gigantic bullet. You fire it and it keeps on going (in one direction) until it either hits something or runs out of fuel," explained the Russian expert.

The Silkworm, designed as a short range surface-to-surface missile against ships, travels as low as 30 ft above the ground (or water). That is below the radars of coalition defenses. It also uses a passive guidance system, so there are no electrical signals for coalition defenses to home in on.

Just last Saturday, one Silkworn penetrated coalition defenses in Kuwait City and exploded (harmlessly) just yards away from a nearby shopping mall and the palace of the ruling emir.

Overall, it was explained, the Russians now in Baghdad have no doubts the U.S. led coalition will eventually overrun the country. However, it seems the Iraq war may have provided these military veterans one last opportunity to cash in while they still could.

When asked if the Russian military "advisors" in Baghdad are worried about being captured by U.S. forces, the source dryly replied: "No, they (the advisors) have no concerns ... they will just tell the U.S. (troops) they are tourists visiting Baghdad."

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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