U.S. has much to lose in struggle over Iraqi intelligence agency

[maddezmom]

U.S. has much to lose in struggle over Iraqi intelligence agency

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Far from the daily conflict in the streets of the Iraqi capital, with its roadside bombings and suicide attacks, another, quieter struggle is being waged -- that for control of Iraq's intelligence agencies.

It's a battle with high stakes for the United States. The Iraqi National Intelligence Service, or INIS, is funded completely by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, according to military and intelligence sources -- not by the Iraqi government. Since the fall of former President Saddam Hussein's regime, the CIA has placed more than 500 officers in Iraq, according to U.S. intelligence sources, making the station the CIA's largest in the world -- larger, even, than the CIA presence in Saigon during the Vietnam War.

~snip~

But now, the future of the U.S.-controlled agency appears to be in jeopardy. A document from Iraq's National Security Council lays out a blueprint for Iraq's new intelligence community. Under that plan, all intelligence gathering would be consolidated under Iraq's Iranian-friendly central government.

more:http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/06/tuesday/index.html

[maddezmom]

1. May. 08, 2005 Amidst doubts, CIA hangs on to control of Iraqi intelligence service

Posted on Sun, May. 08, 2005email thisprint this
Amidst doubts, CIA hangs on to control of Iraqi intelligence service
By Hannah Allam and Warren P. Strobel
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The CIA has so far refused to hand over control of Iraq's intelligence service to the newly elected Iraqi government in a turf war that exposes serious doubts the Bush administration has over the ability of Iraqi leaders to fight the insurgency and worries about the new government's close ties to Iran.

The director of Iraq's secret police, a general who took part in a failed coup attempt against Saddam Hussein, was handpicked and funded by the U.S. government, and he still reports directly to the CIA, Iraqi politicians and intelligence officials in Baghdad said last week. Immediately after the elections in January, several Iraqi officials said, U.S. forces stashed the sensitive national intelligence archives of the past year inside American headquarters in Baghdad in order to keep them off-limits to the new government.

Iraqi leaders complain that the arrangement violates their sovereignty, freezes them out of the war on insurgents and could lead to the formation of a rival, Iraqi-led spy agency. American officials counter that the new leaders' connections to Iran have forced them to take measures that protect Iraq's secrets from the neighboring Tehran regime.


more:http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11597494.htm

[LynnTheDem]

2. Ignoring, of course, Iraq's loss.

Of sovereignty, for one.

[bemildred]

3. Make sure to clean all that stuff out before the last helicopter leaves ... nt

[maddezmom]

4. more from Michael Ware: Pro-Iran agency may take over Iraq's intelligence

Pro-Iran agency may take over Iraq's intelligence
POSTED: 1900 GMT (0300 HKT), March 7, 2007
Story Highlights• Future of U.S.-friendly spy agency in Iraq appears in jeopardy
• Plan would put all intel gathering under Iranian-friendly central government
• Sources say Iraq is CIA's largest outpost in the world

~snip~
US ally and former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Shahwani is being unfairly targeted. "I don't know if it's an attack on U.S. intelligence, but definitely it's a political attack on Shahwani," he said.

One of Shahwani's rivals is Shirwan al-Wa'eli, Iraq's minister for national security. In the past two years, al-Wa'eli's ministry has grown to some 3,000 operatives, according to U.S. intelligence. Under the new intelligence plan, it would grow even further. Al-Wa'eli applauds his relationship with Iran while distancing himself from the United States.

"The multinational forces are in Iraq, and they are supportive on the security issue and we have a good relationship with them, but we do not bargain Iraq to any side," al-Wa'eli told CNN. "The Americans give us only moral support, not logistical support."

The ministry has become an intelligence organization that the United States and its allies never meant it to be.

"It's not a ministry per se," Allawi said. "It's a ministry I created. It's a minister, not a ministry, but things have been around."

link: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/07/iraq.intelligence/index.html?section=cnn_latest