[wvns] US Ignoring Penalties on Sudan
Sudan is secret partner of U.S.
Khartoum supplies information to the CIA on insurgents in Iraq
By Greg Miller and Josh Meyer
Baltimore Sun
June 11, 2007
Washington -- Sudan has secretly worked with the CIA to spy on the
insurgency in Iraq - an example of how the United States has continued
to cooperate with the Sudanese regime even while condemning its role
in the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Darfur.
President Bush has condemned the killings in Darfur as genocide and
has imposed sanctions on Sudan's government. But some critics say the
administration has soft-pedaled the sanctions to preserve its
extensive intelligence collaboration with Sudan.
The relationship underscores the complex realities of the post-Sept.
11 world, in which the United States has relied heavily on
intelligence and military cooperation from countries, including Sudan
and Uzbekistan, that are considered pariah states for their records on
human rights.
"Intelligence cooperation takes place for a whole lot of reasons,"
said a U.S. intelligence official, who like others spoke on condition
of anonymity when discussing intelligence assessments. "It's not
always between people who love each other deeply."
Sudan has become increasingly valuable to the United States since the
Sept. 11 attacks because the Sunni Arab nation is a crossroads for
Islamic militants making their way to Iraq and Pakistan.
That steady flow of foreign fighters has provided cover for Sudan's
Mukhabarat intelligence service to insert spies into Iraq, officials
said. "If you've got jihadists traveling via Sudan to get into Iraq,
there's a pattern there in and of itself that would not raise
suspicion," said a former high-ranking CIA official familiar with
Sudan's cooperation with the agency. "It creates an opportunity to
send Sudanese into that pipeline."
As a result, Sudan's spies have often been in better position than the
CIA to gather information on al-Qaida's presence in Iraq, as well as
on the activities of other insurgent groups.
Blue eyes no use
"There's not much that blond-haired, blue-eyed case officers from the
United States can do in the entire Middle East, and there's nothing
they can do in Iraq," said a second former CIA official familiar with
Sudan's cooperation. "Sudanese can go places we don't go. They're
Arabs. They can wander around."
The officials declined to say whether the Mukhabarat has sent its own
intelligence officers into the country, citing concern over the
protection of sources and methods. They said that Sudan has assembled
a network of informants in Iraq providing intelligence on the
insurgency. Some may have been recruited as they traveled through the
Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
The U.S.-Sudan relationship goes beyond Iraq. Sudan has helped the
United States track the turmoil in Somalia, working to cultivate
contacts with militias and Islamic courts in an effort to locate
al-Qaida suspects hiding there. Sudan also has provided extensive
cooperation in counter-terrorism operations, acting on U.S. requests
to detain suspects as they pass through Khartoum.
Sudan gets a number of benefits in return. Its relationship with the
CIA has given it an important back channel for communications with the
U.S. government. The U.S. has also used this channel to lean on Sudan
over the crisis in Darfur and for other issues.
And at a time when Sudan is being condemned in the international
community, its counterterrorism work has won precious praise. The U.S.
State Department recently issued a report calling Sudan a "strong
partner in the war on terror."
Some critics accuse the Bush administration of being soft on Sudan for
fear of jeopardizing the cooperation on counterterrorism. John
Prendergast, the former director of African affairs for the National
Security Council in the Clinton administration, called the latest
sanctions announced by Bush last month "window dressing," designed to
appear tough while putting little real pressure on Sudan to halt
government-linked Arab militias from killing members of African tribes
in Darfur.
"One of the main glass ceilings on real significant action in response
to the genocide in Darfur has been our growing relationship with
authorities in Khartoum on counterterrorism," said Prendergast, now
with the International Crisis Group. "It is the single biggest
contributor to why the gap between rhetoric and action is so large."
Financial penalties
In an interview, Sudan's ambassador to the United States, John Ukec
Lueth Ukec, suggested that the sanctions could affect the country's
willingness to cooperate on intelligence matters. The steps announced
by Bush include banning 31 businesses owned by the Sudanese government
from access to the U.S. financial system.
The decision to impose financial penalties "was not a good idea," Ukec
said. "It diminishes our cooperation. And it makes those who are on
the extreme side, who do not want cooperation with the United States,
stronger."
But White House and U.S. intelligence officials played down the
prospect that the intelligence cooperation would suffer, saying that
it is in both countries' interests.
"The No. 1 consideration in imposing stiffer sanctions is that the
Sudanese government hasn't stopped the violence there and the people
continue to suffer," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National
Security Council. "We certainly expect the Sudanese to continue
efforts against terrorism because it's in their own interests, not
just ours."
Sudan has its own interests in following the insurgency because
Sudanese extremists and foreign fighters who pass through the country
are likely to return and become a potentially destabilizing presence.
Jihadi 'way station'
Sudan's lax controls on travel have made it what one official
described as a "way station" for jihadists not only from North Africa,
but also from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Gulf states.
Some former U.S. intelligence officials said that Sudan's help in Iraq
has been of limited value, in part because the country accounts for a
small fraction of the foreign fighters, mainly at lower levels of the
insurgency.
"There's not going to be a Sudanese guy near the top of the al-Qaida
in Iraq leadership," said a former CIA official who operated in
Baghdad. "They might have some fighters there but that's just cannon
fodder. They don't have the trust and the ability to work their way
up. The guys leading al-Qaida in Iraq are Iraqis, Jordanians and Saudis."
But others said that Sudan's contributions have been significant
because Sudanese frequently occupy support positions throughout Arab
society - including in the insurgency - giving them access to
movements and supply chains.
"Every group needs weapons. Every group needs a meeting place," said a
another former high-ranking CIA official who oversaw intelligence
collection in Iraq. "Sudanese could get involved in the support chain
or smuggling channels from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait."
A State Department official said Sudan had "provided critical
information that has helped our counterterrorism efforts around the
globe" but noted that there is an inherent conflict in the relationship.
'Playing both ends'
"They have done things that have saved American lives," the official
said. "But the bottom line is that they are bombing their people out
the wazoo in Darfur. Dealing with Sudan, it seems like they are always
playing both ends against the middle."
The CIA declined to discuss any cooperation with Sudan.
"The agency does not, as a rule, comment on relations with foreign
intelligence organizations," said a CIA spokesman, Paul Gimigliano.
Ukec, the Sudanese ambassador, said "the details of what we do in
counterterrorism are not available for discussions." But he noted that
the U.S. State Department "has openly said we are involved in
countering terrorism" and that the assistance that Sudan is providing
"is not only in Sudan."
In the mid-1990s, the CIA's relationship with Sudan was severed. At
the time, Sudan was providing safe harbor for Osama bin Laden and
other leaders of al-Qaida. But the ties were re-established shortly
after the Sept. 11 attacks, when the CIA reopened its station in Khartoum.
Initially, the collaboration focused on information Sudan could
provide about al-Qaida's activities before bin Laden left Sudan for
Afghanistan in 1996, including al-Qaida's pursuit of chemical,
biological or nuclear weapons and its many business fronts and
associates there.
Since then, Sudan has moved beyond sharing historical information on
al-Qaida into taking part in ongoing counterterrorism operations,
focusing on areas where its assistance is likely to be most appreciated.
"Iraq," a U.S. intelligence official said, "is where the intelligence
is going to have the most impact on Americans."
In 2005, the CIA sent an executive jet to Sudan to fly the country's
intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Salah Abdallah Gosh, to Washington for
meetings with officials at agency headquarters.
Gosh has not returned to Washington since, but a former official said
"there are liaison visits every day" between the CIA and Sudan's
Mukhabarat.
Greg Miller and Josh Meyer write for the Los Angeles Times.
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