March 17, 2003, the German government decided to leave two BND agents on site in Iraq to carry out various reconnaissance assignments. They were based in the French embassy and provided the US forces with information on Iraq troop movements and defensive positions. The gathered intelligence was first sent to BND Headquarters in Pullach, Germany, via encoded satellite phone and then forwarded to the US forces in Iraq. According to these reports, the two BND agents even did a drive-by inspection of the American bombing of the Mansur district in Baghdad on April 7, 2003, which unsuccessfully targeted the decapitation of Saddam Hussein. As expected, the BND denied the Spiegel and Panorama reports, and insisted that only lists of “non-targets” like embassies, hospitals and civil facilities were provided.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Did German spooks help US in 2003 attack on Iraq?
Berlin (January 15, 2006) – A potential scandal involving Germany’s top-secret intelligence service seemed to be brewing with yet unknown consequences. According to German news reports (the weekly magazine Der Spiegel and the TV news magazine Panorama) Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) has provided US armed forces with valuable military intelligence during the battle for Iraq in 2003. This cooperation stood in clear contrast with the official anti-war, anti-American position of the then Schröder government. Three days before the was began, on 
March 17, 2003, the German government decided to leave two BND agents on site in Iraq to carry out various reconnaissance assignments. They were based in the French embassy and provided the US forces with information on Iraq troop movements and defensive positions. The gathered intelligence was first sent to BND Headquarters in Pullach, Germany, via encoded satellite phone and then forwarded to the US forces in Iraq. According to these reports, the two BND agents even did a drive-by inspection of the American bombing of the Mansur district in Baghdad on April 7, 2003, which unsuccessfully targeted the decapitation of Saddam Hussein. As expected, the BND denied the Spiegel and Panorama reports, and insisted that only lists of “non-targets” like embassies, hospitals and civil facilities were provided.
March 17, 2003, the German government decided to leave two BND agents on site in Iraq to carry out various reconnaissance assignments. They were based in the French embassy and provided the US forces with information on Iraq troop movements and defensive positions. The gathered intelligence was first sent to BND Headquarters in Pullach, Germany, via encoded satellite phone and then forwarded to the US forces in Iraq. According to these reports, the two BND agents even did a drive-by inspection of the American bombing of the Mansur district in Baghdad on April 7, 2003, which unsuccessfully targeted the decapitation of Saddam Hussein. As expected, the BND denied the Spiegel and Panorama reports, and insisted that only lists of “non-targets” like embassies, hospitals and civil facilities were provided.
