The second more

The exchange of information between the Soviet intelligence service and Saddam Hussein was not unsolicited, for example, before the start of the war, after providing military assistance, the KGB Foreign Intelligence Service asked Saddam Hussein for a person who was neither a top Iraqi military nor a government official, but a very ordinary, and even a high-level Iraqi civilian in Baghdad who found a little strange.

After the Baghdad government found out that this man was indeed just an ordinary scholar in the ordinary Samarra, they handed over the worthless Libyan citizen to the Soviet intelligence service, albeit with a lot of doubts. When the intelligence agents in Baghdad tried to get the news from the handed over KGB agents, the answers they received were disappointing.

"This prey doesn't belong to our Soviet intelligence service, he's a person named by the Central Committee in Moscow to see, so we're just following the rules."

Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samara, a Sunni, was born in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra, the son of an uncle who was a religious scholar and professor of Arabic. Other than that, there is nothing worth our attention about this man, General Secretary Yanayev. ”

Kryuchkov put information on the Iraqi civilians Yanayev named and wanted to arrest on Yanayev's desk, and he really couldn't understand why Yanayev was so interested in such an obscure little character that he even used cover-up methods to send him from Iraq to Moscow.

Yanayev looked at the round-faced man with brown eyes in the photo and said to Kryuchkov. "A person should not look at what he has done in the past, but what kind of value he can create for the Soviet Union in the future. Have you ever wanted to give the Americans a headache in the Middle East? Then this person is the best choice. ”

"The best option? Isn't the best option Saddam? Kryuchkov's eyes widened, he really couldn't understand what kind of terrible strength this short-haired man had that gave Americans a headache. But Yanayev understood what kind of brutal ruler this man could turn into in the future.

"Saddam Hussein is already in the afterglow of the sunset. Moreover, we don't know if he is still alive after the Baghdad airstrike, and now we need to install a loyal anti-American agent in Iraq. ”

Only Yanayef knew that this man would later assume the name Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder of the Iranian state and the most brutal and notorious terrorist leader. But Yanayev thought more deeply, that is, to make this man a loyal pawn of the Soviet Union in Iraq. The best weapon against the U.S. military.

"Yes, the KGB Intelligence Service was going to train him to be a faithful pawn from the moment he took over. And then release me back to Iraq, and believe that I will create unparalleled value for us. He will be a more valuable spokesman for the Iraqi region than Saddam. ”

"What are we going to do? Train him to be a loyal agent of the KGB? Or train him to be a killing machine. "Although there is a certain skepticism about Yanayev's words. But Kryuchkov respected his choice, after all, Yanayev, with success after success, taught everyone that his choice was often the right one.

"It's too condescending to do that, and we need to train him to be the voice of Iraq in the Middle East." Since he is a religious. It is better to train him to be a red religious. ”

Kryuchkov also considered other implications: "What should we do in a place like Iraq once the chess pieces grow and no longer want to be controlled by us?" ”

"As long as he remains an anti-American regime, we don't care. Even if it is a dog, as long as it can be used by us, it has the strength to be supported. And do you really think that a force that affects the interests of both the United States and the Soviet Union can survive in this world without incident? ”

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Samarai was invited to the Lubyanka, the headquarters of the KGB. It was not the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service who received him here. Rather, it was the chairman of the entire KGB department, Comrade Kryuchkov. Apparently, the KGB also went out of their way to match the Arabic-speaking professor with an interpreter. At first, Samarai was a little apprehensive. I don't know if it's good or bad to be targeted by the world's most murderous intelligence organization.

Obviously, Kryuchkov did not talk nonsense at the beginning, and directly asked him if he was willing to be loyal to the Soviet intelligence organization, as long as he wanted to, he could receive both political and military assistance, and the Soviet side had only one request, that is, let him build an anti-American armed force, and not the US troops in Iraq to carry out military strikes.

"Why me?"

Samarai's first words were exactly what Kryuchkov had thought, but in the end, the powerful figure in the intelligence services could only give him an ambiguous answer, "Why you?" Then let me change the question, why can't it be you? ”

"What do I have that deserves to be valued by your intelligence agency? I'm just a university professor, and I don't have anything to do with your support. Knowing that he would not die, Samarai finally mustered up the courage to ask Chairman Kryuchkov rhetorically.

"I can't answer this question either, since the top brass in Moscow chose you, then you must also have the value that we value, now give you a chance to choose, are you willing to choose allegiance to the KGB? Just answer yes or no. ”

"What if I say I don't want to?" Samarai tentatively asked the other party, he wanted to know where the bottom line of the Soviet intelligence service was, so that he could be qualified to bargain with the Soviet government.

"Then you'll never get out of the Rubyanka, I swear." Kryuchkov said very lightly, Yanayev had already given him an order to directly wipe him out if the other party was unwilling to cooperate. It is better to lose a chess piece than to let it become a lackey of the Americans.

It seemed that he would not be able to leave the office alive if he did not agree, and Samarai believed that there was a group of KGB agents waiting to be eliminated outside the door. There was no choice but to choose to cooperate with the Soviet Union, so he had to nod and agree to Kryuchkov, "I do, but I want to know what you can give me?" You can't promise a blank check. ”

"We can give you guns, the money you need to build an armed faction in the early stage, and all you need to do is organize an anti-American regime in the chaos of Iraq to fight the American troops stationed in Iraq. I don't care if you attack with a sniper rifle or a roadside bomb, as long as it can achieve our goal. ”

"If you can be ambitious to establish the backbone of the anti-American regime in Iraq, then the Soviet Union will consider giving you more military aid, and this is what we are asking for."

Kryuchkov looked at the silent Samarai, and it was obvious that no one could refuse such a rich request, and he asked again, "What do you think?" ”

Samarai returned to Iraq after signing a series of non-disclosure agreements with the Soviet Union, and was instructed by the Soviet Union to establish an armed force of his own in the most politically unstable north. And this orchestrated force would become a hidden proxy for the Soviet Union to control Iraq in the future. (To be continued.) )