Sudan ‘helping US spy in Iraq’

WASHINGTON – The government of Sudan, regularly accused of backing atrocities in Darfur, has secretly allowed its spies to gather information about the insurgency in Iraq for the United States, The Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.

Citing unnamed intelligence officials, the California newspaper said Sudan has become increasingly valuable to Washington since the September 11 2001, 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, the report said.”If you’ve got jihadists travelling via Sudan to get into Iraq, there’s a pattern there in and of itself that would not raise suspicion,” the paper quoted a former high-ranking CIA official as saying.”It creates an opportunity to send Sudanese into that pipeline.”As a result, Sudan’s spies have often been in better position than the US spy agency CIA to gather information on al-Qaeda’s presence in Iraq, as well as the activities of other insurgent groups, the paper said.”Sudanese can go places we don’t go.They’re Arabs.They can wander around,” the paper quoted another former CIA official as saying.The officials declined to say whether the Mukhabarat had sent its intelligence officers into the country, citing concerns over protecting sources, according to the report.However they said that Sudan had assembled a network of informants in Iraq providing intelligence on the insurgency.Sudan has helped the United States track the turmoil in Somalia, working to cultivate contacts with the Islamic Courts Union and other militias in an effort to locate al Qaeda suspects hiding there, the paper added.Its relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency has given Sudan an important back channel for communications with the US government, the report said.Nampa-AFPThat steady flow of foreign fighters has provided cover for Sudan’s Mukhabarat intelligence service to insert spies into Iraq, the report said.”If you’ve got jihadists travelling via Sudan to get into Iraq, there’s a pattern there in and of itself that would not raise suspicion,” the paper quoted a former high-ranking CIA official as saying.”It creates an opportunity to send Sudanese into that pipeline.”As a result, Sudan’s spies have often been in better position than the US spy agency CIA to gather information on al-Qaeda’s presence in Iraq, as well as the activities of other insurgent groups, the paper said.”Sudanese can go places we don’t go.They’re Arabs.They can wander around,” the paper quoted another former CIA official as saying.The officials declined to say whether the Mukhabarat had sent its intelligence officers into the country, citing concerns over protecting sources, according to the report.However they said that Sudan had assembled a network of informants in Iraq providing intelligence on the insurgency.Sudan has helped the United States track the turmoil in Somalia, working to cultivate contacts with the Islamic Courts Union and other militias in an effort to locate al Qaeda suspects hiding there, the paper added.Its relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency has given Sudan an important back channel for communications with the US government, the report said.Nampa-AFP