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Published on Tuesday, 28 February 2006 15:00
A Report
in the New York Times based on a dossier compiled by the
US Joint Forces Command, disclosed that in February
2003, German intelligence agents supplied the US
military with details of Saddam Hussein\'s plans to
defend Baghdad. The Iraqi defence plan was unveiled at a
meeting of senior Iraqi commanders in December
2002.
It included plans to mass troops in
defensive rings around the capital, and to form a
last-ditch \"red line\" of Republican Guard troops who
were ordered to hold out to the end.
The Report
said a German intelligence officer based in Qatar passed
a copy of the Iraqi defence plan and a sketch of the
operation to an official of the US Defence Intelligence
Agency, a month before American troops entered
Iraq.
The Report\'s findings came as an acute
embarrassment to Chancellor Angela Merkel\'s
Government, which has repeatedly insisted that Germany
did nothing substantial to support America in the run up
to the invasion of Iraq.