The $16.5 Billion deal. Operation Simoom.

Note: This happened in the middle east, if there is any problems with the placement of the thread itself. Feel free to move it.

Operation Simoom,
was a top secret Polish intelligence operation conducted in Iraq in 1990.

In 1990 the CIA asked European intelligence agencies to assist in the withdrawal of six American operatives (a mix of CIA and DIA officers) investigating Iraqi troops movements in Iraq before the Gulf War.
Several countries, such as Russia, Great Britain, and France refused to help in such a dangerous operation; only Poland agreed to help. The operation was very risky because if the cover were to be blown, all operatives were likely to be killed.
The main plan was to reestablish contact with the hiding American spies and give them Polish passports so they could escape from Iraq in a bus, alongside Polish and Russian workers.

The six American agents were hiding in Kuwait and Baghdad for several weeks before the escape took place. The operation proved to be difficult because of the iraqis suspicion of some kind of American-Polish intrigue.

The agents were given refuge at a Polish construction camp, and then provided with passports and put on a refugee bus. An Iraqi officer at checkpoint on the border had studied in Poland and spoke Polish well enough to communicate. When the bus arrived at the border, he asked one of the American spies a question in Polish. Since the spy did not know Polish at all, he pretended to be heavily drunk. Nevertheless, the bus managed to cross the border with all occupants. Poles moved the agents out of Iraq and into the safety of Turkey.
Operatives from both sides returned to their countries. Polish forces rescued not only the agents but also secret maps—detailed maps of various military installations and of crucial points in the capital of Baghdad itself—apparently crucial for Operation Desert Storm.
As a reward for Poland's help, the US government promised to cancel half, or $16.5 billion, of Poland's foreign debt.

There was also a movie made about this operation called 'Operacja Samum'
It's weird how one does not know some of the key intel for the start of the gulf war was actually recovered by polish special forces.

I hope you enjoyed

Cool story

If I knew help in that particular case was that valuable I'd have volunteered

I did enjoy!

Thank you.

That would make an awesome movie. But please... No Matt Damon

reply to post by Mrgone


I agree good sir.
Or Tom Cruise.

This is a very interesting story, I am glad the OP brought it up however it would have been nice if he had not just copied the entire thread right of Wikipedia.

There is not very much information available regarding the nature of this operation however in writing a recent thread myself I stumbled across it. My thread is perhaps very pertinent to this one as it involved the covert insertion of a British Black Ops team inside Kuwait as war broke out. I believe it to be pertinent because it does actually cast doubt over much of this thread. Crucially the claim is both Kuwait and Baghdad, I know for a fact that just after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait a American Blackhawk extracted two members of British Special Forces inside Kuwait. This leads me to question why they could not have just done the same for CIA and DIA members.

The same goes for Bagdad, interesting no American Forces where inserted into Iraq, that job went to British Special Forces. They were inserted and extracted via helicopter and again it makes me question why the same could not be done for CIA officials. This and the information in the previous paragraph makes me question the assertion that Brittan refused to take part in the operation as Brittan done the risky stuff during the first Gulf war, Russia was not involved atoll.

Poland was not part of the collation of forces who took part in the first gulf war, if this operation did take part it was agent of polish secret service and not members of GROM, which had only just formed before the out brake of war. The Wiki page that you copied form has a number of inaccuracies that make me doubt the accuracy of this story such as claiming that polish forces also rescued British hostages, they were not rescued but released by Saddam. Also on the issue of the alleged “reward” for Poland’s involvement in this operation, after a meeting of the “Paris Club” it was agreed to cut $33 billion of Poland’s debt because of their transition to the free market it was not just America that contributed to this $33 billion.

I am inclined to believe that much of the claims about operation Simoom have been exaggerated for the sake of the movie, I am not saying it didn’t happen but just that this wiki story has been grossly exaggerated for the sake of the movie.

Anyway nice copy paste job op

copied wiki story

Very cool!

Can you imagine the tension on that bus as the American agent was confronted!