Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

• ARMOS specialized in bringing both Russian andUkrainian experts into Iraq and represented Russiaand Ukraine during business transactions, mainlyfor the financing of military goods transactions (Seethe MIC Front Company section for further detailson ARMOS).• Documents indicate that ARMOS and MontElectwere involved in offers of military equipment forAl-Karamah in January 2003. Signatures on therecovered documents implicate ARMOS, Al-Karamah,Sa’ad General Company, the Trade Office ofthe MIC, and Dr. Sergey Semenov of MontElect.The documents also revealed the use of Syriantransportation companies and use of the Iraqi-Syrian Protocol to facilitate the transaction. Iraqmade two payments of $405,000 for the equipment.JordanJordanian companies performed a variety of essentialroles from 1991 through 1999 that aided and abettedIraq’s procurement mechanism: transportation hub,financial haven, one of several illicit revenue sources,and overall illicit trade facilitator (see the TradeProtocol section). Firms from Jordan facilitated thetransshipment of prohibited military equipment andmaterials to the Iraqi Regime. Iraqi front companiesconducted the vast majority of this illicit trade. Thistrade included the following:• Captured documents reveal that a company calledMechanical Engineers and Contractors shippedmissile parts to Iraq. Payment was made throughthe Jordan Investment and Finance Bank accordingto the guidelines established by the Iraq-JordanTrade Protocol.• A high-level former Iraqi government official statedthat during 2002, compressors used in nitric acidproduction and Russian missile control systemsdestined for MIC front companies were shippedthrough Jordan.• A $50 million contract was signed for the IraqiElectricity Commission in 2002, for the purchase ofRussian-made cables designed to withstand explosions.Multiple sources indicate that the former IraqiRegime also received offers from Jordanian companiesfor items such as global positioning system(GPS) equipment, metrological balloons, gyroscopes,video gun sights, electronic countermeasures equipment,and communications equipment.• In February 2003, Iraq’s Abu Dhabi Companysought to purchase a large quantity of field telephonesand some frequency hopping radios fromJordan.• In February 2003, Iraq’s Orckid General TradingCompany sought details of solid-state gyroscopesavailable through a Jordanian company. High performancegyroscopes can be used in UAVs, avionicsand platform stabilization.• The Iraqi firm Al-Rabaya for Trading in Baghdadcontracted with a Jordanian firm, for US manufacturedGPS equipment. The parties of the contractwere identified as Munir Mamduh Awad al-Qubaysi, Managing Director or Iraq’s Al-Basha’irTrading Company, and Dr. Sa’di ‘Abass Khadir,Director General of the Al-Milad General Company,companies run by the MIC.The Al-Eman Investment Group employed many privatesubsidiaries to procure goods through Jordanfor Iraq. An Iraqi businessman with direct access tothe information affirmed that both the UN OFF programand the trade Protocol were used as mechanismsfor conducting illicit trade. Al-Eman’s Vice President,Karim Salih, also acquired Al-Samud missile engineparts for the MIC.• Iraqi businessmen stated that the Al-Eman Establishmentconducted business with many Iraqi ministriesand was a critical component of the Iraqi illicitprocurement apparatus.• According to an Iraqi businessman with extensiveRegime contacts, a Jordanian company, with officesin Amman and Baghdad, delivered engine sparesfor turboprop trainer aircraft owned by the Iraqimilitary. This Middle Eastern firm also dealt withthe Iraqi Ministry of Information and the MoT, andhad extensive contacts with the Iraqi CA in the Iraqi100