Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

Figure 64. A bill of lading from October 1999 for T-72and T-55 tank engines described as “spare parts foragricultural equipments.”Iraqi trade intermediaries generally used severalapproaches to hide the illicit nature of their cargo.These approaches were used singly or in combination(depending on the sensitivity of the commodities)to get the items into a neighboring country where itcould be easily smuggled into Iraq.• Disguising the nature of the item.• Hiding the ultimate end user.• Changing the final destination.• Nondisclosure. Alternatively, any of these threebits of information could simply be not providedor written illegibly on the shipping documents.Although against common trade practices, thisambiguity could provide sufficient deniability forthose suppliers in the acquisition chain.Disguising the Nature of Prohibited GoodsThe Iraqi Regime skirted UN restrictions by usingcover contracts under the trade Protocols or outrightincorrect descriptions of items in transit. TheMIC was known to use this method to purchasemilitary equipment using funds from the UN OFFprogram. Military-use items would also be incorrectlydescribed in the paperwork as dual-use items. ISGhas uncovered numerous examples of Iraqi effortsto disguise the nature of illicit imports to skirt theUN sanctions Regime:• Captured Iraqi documents verify that NEC providedrestricted items to Iraq, although we have not foundany evidence that NEC provided Iraq with chemicalsthat could be used to produce CBW agents.• In 1999, the MIC imported Georgian T-55 and T-72tank engines under cover contracts for agriculturalequipment, according to documents corroboratedby a high-level MIC official (see figure 64).• Translated correspondence between the Iraqi frontcompany Al-Rawa’a Trading Company and Al-Karamah detailed November 2000 plans to altershipping documents for agricultural towing batteries(military use) to describe them as batteriesfor ambulances. Muhammad Talib Muhammad,director of Al-Rawa’a, was concerned because, ifthe batteries were discovered during inspectionupon arrival in Iraq, it could create a “crisis.” Thepurpose of altering the documents was clearly todescribe the batteries dual use rather than militaryuse, thereby making it easier to bring them into thecountry.• In February 2003, the Russian state arms exportcompany, Rosoboronexport, and other Russiancompanies planned to sell advanced antiaircraftand antitank missile systems to Iraq, according toa document signed by the head of MIC securityrecovered at the IIS Headquarters in Baghdad. TheIraqis and Russians planned to ship the prohibitedgoods using UN OFF cover contracts to disguisethe items as illumination devices, water pumps, andassorted agricultural equipment. We do not know ifthis equipment was shipped to Iraq before the startof Operation Iraqi Freedom.134