US is secret partner of Sudan

Sudan has secretly worked with the CIA to spy on the insurgency in Iraq -- an example of how the United States has continued to cooperate with the Sudanese regime even while condemning its role in the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Darfur. President Bush has condemned the killings in Darfur as genocide and has imposed sanctions on Sudan's government. But some critics say the administration has soft-pedaled the sanctions to preserve its extensive intelligence collaboration with Sudan. Sudan's ambassador to the United States, John Ukec Lueth Ukec, suggested that the sanctions could affect the country's willingness to cooperate on intelligence matters. The steps announced by Bush include banning 31 businesses owned by the Sudanese government from access to the US financial system. The decision to impose financial penalties "was not a good idea," Ukec said. "It diminishes our cooperation. And it makes those who are on the extreme side, who do not want cooperation with the United States, stronger." A State Department official quoted by the Baltimore Sun commented, "but the bottom line is that they are bombing their people out the wazoo in Darfur. Dealing with Sudan, it seems like they are always playing both ends against the middle." A former official quoted by the newspaper said "there are liaison visits every day" between the CIA and Sudan's Mukhabarat. The CIAis recruiting Arab-speaking Sudanese citizens, in spite of sanctions against the country over the killings in Darfur. Sudanese recruits have been providing information about individuals passing through Sudan to Somalia and elsewhere in the the Horn of Africa and Iraq. The Sudanese government is reported to have detained suspects in Khartoum at the request of the US. The US state department recently issued a report describing Sudan as a "strong partner in the war on terror." The United States has relied heavily on intelligence and military cooperation from countries, including Sudan and Uzbekistan, that are considered pariah states for their records on human rights. US intelligence agencies do deals with all sorts of governments in the Middle East and central Asia, not only for intelligence-gathering but for secret detention centers and as fueling stops in rendition cases. An ex-CIA official said: "There's not much that blond-haired, blue-eyed case officers from the United States can do in the entire Middle East, and there's nothing they can do in Iraq. Sudanese can go places we don't go. They're Arabs. They can wander around."