How the Iraq war was planned

There is an interesting report in today's New York Times on the extent of German involvement in the Iraq war. Among the major players on the international stage, the run-up to the war and the invasion have tended to be portrayed as a time of concrete certainties and irreconcilable dichotomies, splitting new Europe off from old and pitting the consumers of freedom fries against cheese eating surrender monkeys.

What the report suggests is that there were rather more shades of grey than this black and white version of events would suggest. Based on US military documents, it claims German intelligence passed Iraqi plans for the defence of Baghdad to the US while the Berlin government was publically opposed to it.