Putin Goes Fishing?

There's something fishy about Russian President Putin's surprise claim that Russia advised the USA that Iraq planned post 9/11 strikes. The White House did not corroborate Putin's claim, while the US State Department said no such reports had passed through its offices.

If Russia had indeed made such a claim, why wouldn't Bush's people have used it to justify their illegal invasion? Is it because Russia says that, in spite of the intelligence, they still believe the invasion was wrong? Russia and France have been the USA's strongest opponents in the UN. Both stand to lose a lot of money in unpaid loans to Saddam's regime. And both are frustrated at being blocked access to lucrative Iraqi reconstruction contracts.

I suspect Putin's sudden, unconfirmed claim has more to do with contract negotiations and political favours than anything else.

And it's worthwhile noting what Putin did NOT say. He emphasized that Russia could not prove a link between Saddam and the al-Qaeda terror network, nor that Iraq had organised any specific attack. So what do we have, besides more rumours and innuendo? Just another player at the political table.