Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

• In May 2002, ARMOS was offered Bulgarian electro-chemicalgun-barrel machining (ECM) from aCypriot gray arms broker, Green Shield.Al-Mafakher for Commercial Agencies and ExportCompany. The MIC established the Al-Mafakher forCommercial Agencies and Export Company, Ltd in2001. Adil Nafik, a former Al-Basha’ir Deputy Director,managed Al-Mafakher. According to a formerMIC employee, the company was considered ineffective,mainly because of its inefficient staff and the factthat it was a newly established business.• Al-Mafakher was much smaller than Al-Basha’ir—with just six employees—and conducted only 1percent of Al-Basha’ir’s business.• Al-Mafakher had investment abroad, including a50-percent share in Elba House in Jordan and a25-percent stake in a Tunisian company, possiblynamed Parabolica, which manufactured leaf springsfor automobiles.Iraqi Intelligence ServiceSaddam used the IIS to undertake the most sensitiveprocurement missions. Consequently, the IIS facilitatedthe import of restricted dual-use and militarygoods into Iraq through Syria, Jordan, Belarus, andTurkey. The IIS had representatives in most of Iraq’sembassies in these foreign countries using a varietyof official covers. One type of cover was the “commercialattaches” that were sent to make contactswith foreign businesses, set up front companies, andfacilitate the banking process and transfers of fundsas determined and approved by the senior officialswithin the government (see MoT Section, FacilitatingIllicit Trade through Commercial Attaches). In June2002, two IIS employees were transferred to the MFAand sent to work at the Iraqi Embassy in Belarusunder the cover title of “attache,” according to a letterswritten between the IIS and MFA.• From 1994-1997, the IIS M19 Directorate of CommercialProjects used front companies to importprohibited items, according to reporting.• A general order by Saddam in 1998 to collecttechnology with military applications led to theformation of a committee consisting of the PresidentialSecretary Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti,IIS Director Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, MICDirector Abd al-Tawab Mullah Huwaysh, and thehead of the Directorate of General Military Intelligence.This committee tasked Habbush to procuretechnologies when Huwaysh deemed the items tobe of a sensitive nature.• In 1998, after Saddam Husayn issued a generalorder for the use of IIS in developing new procurementrelationships, the IIS dissolved M19 andtransferred procurement efforts to the M4 Directorateof Foreign Intelligence who had more directaccess, infrastructure, and developed relationshipswith foreign countries, according to multiplessources.IIS Procurement Leadership and MissionIIS Procurement under the direction of Tahir JalilHabbush al-Tikriti (see Figure 46) was part of a collaborativeeffort headed by the MIC to obtain equipment,materials, and expertise for Iraq despite UNsanctions. In 1997, Saddam approved a MIC proposalto enlist IIS to develop new procurement, technologytransfer, and technical assistance channels outside ofIraq. Within the IIS, primary procurement activitiestook place in the Scientific and Technical InformationOffice (M4/4/5).• Prior to 1998, the IIS M-19 Directorate had both aDomestic Branch that dealt with Iraqi companiesand a Foreign Branch that dealt with foreign trade,according to a former IIS officer with direct access.The Foreign Branch was headed by Sadak Shaban.• In accordance with a 1997 mandate from Saddamto improve Iraq’s missile capabilities, the MIC andIIS formed a joint effort to accomplish this goal,according to a senior MIC official. The participantsincluded head of the IIS Scientific Intelligence Sectionand the head of the IIS, al-Tikriti.The IIS officers stationed outside of Iraq were in agood position to carry out the mission of the MICand IIS procurement without drawing the attentionof the international community. IIS officers generallyreported back to the Scientific and TechnicalRegime Financeand Procurement77