Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

Muhammad Mahdi Al Salih, the former Minister ofTrade, claimed the MoT supported the Iraqi militarythrough the OFF program only with legitimate civilianitems. Typical goods procured by the MoT for theMIC and MoD via OFF included: stationery, officecomputers, generators, civilian trucks, water tankers,fuel tankers, and building materials. For example, AlSalih recalled that the MoT had purchased 100,000uniforms for the Iraqi police and vehicles for theSSO. Al Salih, however, later admitted to importingammunition, communication systems, and other militaryitems for MoD, IIS, SRG, and the Diwan outsidethe UN framework.The MoT also played an important role in executingthe Jordanian trade protocol. Under this agreement,the MoT gathered and forwarded all Iraqi contractsto Jordan for approval. These records were, however,inadvertently destroyed with the rest of the MoTbuilding in the opening hours of OIF. Both the MoTand MoO shared responsibility for negotiating thebilateral Protocol agreements with Syria, Turkey, andJordan. The MoO, however, was the prime negotiatorin the case of Syria and Turkey, and controlled thetrade under these Protocols.• The MoT purchased goods under the Syria andTurkey trade Protocols, particularly for military andsecurity services that did not have their own allocationof funds under the agreement.• Captured documents reveal the MoT paid for“goods and services” through these protocols forthe Directorate of General Security, General PoliceDirectorate, Military Intelligence Division, MoDand SSO.• There are no indications of the nature of the itemsprocured by the MoT for these organizations otherthan a reference to MoD contracts with the GeneralCompany for Grain Manufacturing, which suggestthat the MoT was procuring for food.According to Al Salih, in addition to the UN OFFand the trade protocols, the MoT coordinated tradeoutside of UN sanctions with a number of othercountries, including UAE, Qatar, Oman, Algeria,Tunisia, Yemen, and Sudan. These were essentiallyframeworks for cooperation and free trade thatallowed for the import and export of domesticallyproduced products without license or tax.Facilitating Illicit Procurement With Cover ContractsThere is some debate among Iraqi sources regardingthe MoT’s role in providing false cover contracts forsensitive imports. According to one former official,the MoT provided “cover” contracts for militaryrelatedgoods, such as communications equipment,computers, and military clothing obtained via theJordan, Syrian, and Turkish trade Protocols. Consideringthe political sensitivity surrounding theseagreements, none of Iraq’s neighbors wanted to bescrutinized by the international community for doingbusiness with the Iraqi military, either for civilian(dual-use) or overtly military goods. False cover contractswould have been easier to hide in the flow oftrade occurring over Iraq’s borders with Syria, Jordan,and Turkey.• This source is corroborated by annotations on capturedtables of Syrian and Turkish trade contracts,which reveal that every entry listing the MoT as thesponsoring government agency was concealing theMIC and MoD as the true end users for the goods.• Captured records also show that MoT contractedwith the Syrian firm SES International (a knownprovider of military and dual-use goods to Iraq) for$11.3 million of goods from December 2000, over80 percent of which was for goods and services fortwo MIC manufacturing companies.• Muhammad Mahdi Al Salih, the former Ministerof Trade, recalled that the MoT had conductedbusiness with SES, but only for civilian goods,including deformed bars and timber under UN OFF,and for Mitsubishi pickups under the Syrian tradeProtocol. He denied that the MoT ever procuredgoods for MIC manufacturing companies.• The former head of the MIC, Huwaysh, who didnot believe that the MoT had ever procured goodsfor these two companies, later corroborated AlSalih’s denial.Facilitating Illicit Trade Through CommercialAttachesAccording to Al Salih, the MoT’s commercial attache(CA) program began in 1983. CA’s were eventuallyposted in Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria,Moscow, Belarus,and China. In many of these58