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October 16, 1981

Ministry for State Security, 'On Activities of Iraqi Intelligence Organs'

HVA III/711

Berlin, 16 October 1981

 

Strictly confidential!

 

N o t e

 

 

On Activities of Iraqi Intelligence Organs

 

A leading comrade from the KGB in Baghdad informed about the following:

 

There exists an instruction from the Revolutionary Command Council, which was forwarded to all Iraqi embassies abroad through the Foreign Ministry. According to this instruction, the embassies (especially those employees there who serve on intelligence missions, mostly so in the cultural embassy sections) have to register, monitor, and possibly neutralize with all means at their disposal Iraqi communists, oppositional Kurds, and other individuals opposing the Saddam regime. Exploiting generous entry rules (visit with Iraqi diplomats), officers from Iraqi security organs continuously travel to the embassies abroad and coordinate actions against such individuals on site. In part, they also utilize for this type of activity diplomats from other Arab states, correspondents, and students. However, extraordinary measures against opposition figures always have to be approved by the Iraqi Center first. In the Arab region, Iraq’s intelligence cooperation is closest with Saudi-Arabia and Jordan. Those three are in agreement over a coordinated persecution of communist and other opposition. Yet there also exist major difficulties, as the leaders of these three countries (Saddam Hussein, Kings Hussein and Khaled) harbor strong mutual mistrust against each other despite public demonstrations of their unity. Saudi-Arabia and Jordan are afraid of their states being undermined by the Baath Party, something they want to prevent by all means.

 

Copy

HVA IX/C

HA II/15

HVA III/7

 

Report from the KGB that Iraqi intelligence are using foreign embassies to "to register, monitor, and possibly neutralize" Iraqi communists and other oppositional groups abroad.

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Document Information

Source

BStU, ZA, HA II 17923, p. 190. Translated for CWIHP by Bernd Schaefer.

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2015-11-20

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122932