New York, Mar 29: American intelligence analysts warned the Pentagon before the war in Iraq began that Iraqi paramilitary units would fight back and could pose a significant threat to US-led invading forces, officials said.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) issued a report
last month that said the paramilitary units loyal to Saddam
Hussein could threaten rear areas during an allied advance,
the officials were quoted as saying by The New York Times.
The CIA report also raised concerns about possibility that
paramilitary forces could mount attacks on Iraqi civilians and
use other irregular means to try to tie down invading forces.
Analysts at defence intelligence agency, the paper said,
also voiced concerns about paramilitary forces in the months
leading up to war with Iraq, and warned the military
leadership about the threat from guerrilla-style attacks.
Officials were quoted as saying that the issue was also
raised by analysts at the national ground intelligence
center, another branch of military intelligence.
Still, intelligence officials cautioned the warnings
by analysts about paramilitary forces shouldn't be overstated,
since other potential threats received much more attention.
"You can't overspin this and say this was considered the
biggest threat by the analysts," an official said. "A lot more
attention was paid to republican guards and to possible use
of weapons of mass destruction. Those were considered biggest
problems."
The Times said the fact that analysts raised the issue in
intelligence reports but did not make it a dominant theme
might help explain why commanders in the field, who might not
have read the fine print of every report, were surprised when
paramilitary forces first appeared.
Bureau Report
