Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

• A recovered contract dated 20 February 2003names the legal representatives from the Iraqi AlSumud and Al-Basha’ir General Companies anda name of the legal representative for the Syrian,SES International . The contract designates thatSES will supply the MIC with 100 parts for the155 mm weapon system. These parts, producedby the Syrian Defense Plants Establishment, cost$2,574,000.• The contract specified a guarantee deposit letterfrom the Al Mawarid Bank, Beirut, Lebanon for$514,000 as a down payment on the deal. Thedeposit letter was to be directed to a “Jasim AhmadHasan and a Hashim Karim ‘Abbas” in regards tothe sponsoring of a representative of the SES InternationalCorporation.Possible Yemeni Breaches of UN Sanctions2001: Government of Yemen Offers to supply MilitaryGoods to IraqRecovered documents refer to the Yemen Ambassadormeeting with the Iraqi military to discuss a listof guaranteed military materials. According to thedocuments, the President of Yemen gave his blessingto support the effort to supply military goods to Iraq.• A letter from the Iraqi Defense Minister SultanHashem Ahmed dated 23 March 2001 speaks ofa meeting with the Republic of Yemen’s Ambassador,Mr. Abid Al-Malek Saeed. The letter statesthat Yemen had been helping the Iraqi Armed forcesthrough a Yemeni business-man named Mr. ShaherAbid Al Haqq.Regime Financeand ProcurementPossibel Breaches of UN Sanctions by JordanianCompanies2001: Jordanian Company Offers To Supply anAmmunition Production Line• A letter dated 28 January 2001 from the Al-Basha’irfor Trading Investment Company of Amman,Jordan (Jordanian branch of the Iraqi Al-Basha’irCompany) to the ARMOS Trading Company Baghdadrefers to a presentation given by Al Bash’airfor the proposed installation of an assembly line,portions of which were manufactured in Yugoslavia(tender no. 2000/56/70).• Specifications indicate that this proposed technicaltransfer was for the production of .22 caliberammunition. The proposal included: a blockdiagram, “know how” documents, installation,supervision over equipment installation, trial runand performance tests on equipment, and technicalassistance. Annual production capacity amountswere estimated as 25 million rounds. This productionline cost $ 9,466,015.• Reference is given to a meeting held 19 February2001, were the Yemeni side was ready to exportmilitary materials from Yemen and Ethiopia to Iraq.The letter indicates the President of Yemen, AliAbid Allah Salah, gave his blessing to the deal andthat the Iraqis were given guarantees for the spareparts. These parts were specifically drawn from thestocks of the Yemeni armed forces, air force, armyaviation and included armor, trucks, and weapons.• A follow-up meeting was held on 22 March 2001,which included the Yemeni Ambassador and Mr.Al-Haqq. Al-Haqq and the Ambassador providedthe Iraqi military with a list of guaranteed availablemilitary materials and prices. Al-Haqq also revealedthat he had met with the President Salah who hadgiven his blessing for these efforts and support. Theletter indicates that the President Salah, “believesthat the support of Iraq with the proposed exportsis necessary” and he had made calls to his brother,an Air Force Commander, asking him to presenteverything possible to Iraq, even if he has to takesupplies from the Yemeni Air Force and ask Russiaand others for replacement material.287