Germany aided Iraq invasion silently

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Germany, while publicly opposing the U.S. invasion of Iraq, assisted it by passing on a copy of Saddam Hussein's defense plan, The New York Times reports.

A classified military study said that German intelligence agents in Baghdad obtained the plan to defend the Iraqi capital.

The relationship between the United States and Germany was especially frosty in 2002, when German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder made opposition to the war a cornerstone of his run for re-election, and in 2003 Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld lumped Germany and France together as "old Europe."

A German report released last week acknowledged that the country gave some intelligence assistance, the Times said. But that report said that it was limited, for the most part, to identifying civilian areas of Baghdad so they would not be attacked by mistake.

A Defense Department official said that staffers listing members of the "coalition of the willing" added other categories. Germany was classified as "non-coalition but cooperating," while Egypt and Saudi Arabia were called "silent partners."