NEW DELHI: The Baath Party’s long-term hold on Iraq has made planting of Western agents difficult and hazardous for many years and rendered the coalition forces human intelligence (Humint) gathering ineffective reports Jane’s Defence Weekly in its latest issue.
Many allied Arab nations rely on a large number of Islamic migrant workers and it is likely that Iraq has long-term agents among them the weekly says.
The Iraqi intelligence agencies include the Mukhabarat the ruling Baah Partys own intelligence agency. It is run by President Saddam Husseins half-brother Mr Sabawi Ibrahim and has agents in the armed forces and government departments as well as among Iraqi exiles abroad.
The Estikhbarat (military intelligence) oversees intelligence-gathering through Iraq’s embassies abroad. Military attaches are usually involved in gathering open source material and recruiting military-related informers the weekly says
The military attaches also handle clandestine operations often headed by another attache from a civilian department or by a Second or Third Secretary with diplomatic immunity.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 22, 1991
