I’m not feeling the love from Russia

CNN International reports that the Russia Federation warned the United States about Iraqi plans for terrorism against the United States: Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country warned the United States several times that Saddam Hussein’s regime was planning terror attacks on the United States and its overseas interests…. “I can confirm that after the ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

CNN International reports that the Russia Federation warned the United States about Iraqi plans for terrorism against the United States:

CNN International reports that the Russia Federation warned the United States about Iraqi plans for terrorism against the United States:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country warned the United States several times that Saddam Hussein’s regime was planning terror attacks on the United States and its overseas interests…. “I can confirm that after the events of September 11, 2001, and up to the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services and Russian intelligence several times received … information that official organs of Saddam’s regime were preparing terrorist acts on the territory of the United States and beyond its borders, at U.S. military and civilian locations,” Putin said. The Russian leader did not elaborate on any details of the warnings of terror plots or mention whether they were tied to the al Qaeda terror network. Putin, one of the strongest critics of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, also said Russia had no information that Saddam’s regime had actually committed any terrorist acts. The United States never cited Russian intelligence when it was making its case for the war and Putin said the information did not change his country’s opposition to the war. (emphasis added)

I wouldn’t want to speculate on the quality of Russian intelligence, but that last sentence provokes a question to President Putin — why didn’t the information change your mind about the war? You have intel saying that one sovereign state is planning to commit acts of aggression against another sovereign state in violation of the laws of war. If that’s not a justification for preventive action, what is?

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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