Now does anyone know of any Hariri connection?

Yeah, Syria killed the people of Darfur.

And it wasn't even a Michael Young column.

It was Elaph (uh, eventually), though, so not super-credible.

Also, wow, what an interesting comment thread over there.

Dear all,

I somehow fail to see how Sudan - out of all countries - is in any position to "spy on the insurgency in Iraq" in a significant manner, as the vast majority of groups are (pretty much exclusively) Iraqi-manned & -led. Al-Qa'idah in Mesopotamia is a small group and, at this point, being fought by other (indigenous) resistance groups.

I think that this part of the article is key:

Some former U.S. intelligence officials said that Sudan's help in Iraq has been of limited value, in part because the country accounts for a small fraction of the foreign fighters, mainly at lower levels of the insurgency.

"There's not going to be a Sudanese guy near the top of the al-Qaida in Iraq leadership," said a former CIA official who operated in Baghdad. "They might have some fighters there but that's just cannon fodder. They don't have the trust and the ability to work their way up. The guys leading al-Qaida in Iraq are Iraqis, Jordanians and Saudis."

But others said that Sudan's contributions have been significant because Sudanese frequently occupy support positions throughout Arab society - including in the insurgency - giving them access to movements and supply chains.

"Every group needs weapons. Every group needs a meeting place," said a another former high-ranking CIA official who oversaw intelligence collection in Iraq. "Sudanese could get involved in the support chain or smuggling channels from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait."

--MSK*

PS: As for Hariri, they're too busy dealing with Nahr al-Barid at the moment. And there are rumors that Sa'd might jeopardize M14 to cut a "national unity" deal with Hezbollah.

MSK,

The second part of the quoted passage makes a good point. Given the way most gulf arabs manage just about everything else, the odds are that a lot of the "menial" tasks of logistics are being done by Sudanese or Somalis. That they do not enter the leadership ranks may not be all that important.

Just think about large companies in America: the people at the top don't necessarily know how stuff actually works on the ground, they just direct and manage the people that do. If you wanted to gather actionable and detailed intelligence about the US military, would you: a) recruit someone close to Bush, since as the leader he must know quite a lot about the real goings on (!?); or b) infiltrate people at the "cannon-fodder" and logistical level?

Dear YG,

agreed. My point was, however, that Al-Qa'idah in Mesopotamia (AQM?) is such a small group (compared to the indigenous Iraqi groups) that any infiltration on whatever level is not going to give much information on THE insurgency.

If you want that, you'd have to get local Iraqis to work for you, i.e. the U.S.

As for logistics & shipments from outside - at this point the Iraqi resistance/insurgents haven't even exhausted yet the ammunition that had been in the country in 2003. They aren't reliant on outside supplies. What does come from outside is technology/know-how, not so much material.

So - yes, Sudan "helping" is going to provide info on AQM & cohorts, but not the general Iraqi resistance/insurgency.

--MSK*