Volume Two
Section D Arms and Defence-Related Exports to Iraq
Chapter 5 Iraqi Arms and Defence Equipment Procurement
after the Cease-Fire

Excerpt:
IRAQI ARMS AND DEFENCE EQUIPMENT PROCUREMENT AFTER THE CEASE-FIRE

D5.1 It is now well known that from 1987 or thereabouts Iraq set about establishing in Europe and elsewhere a network of companies by means of which arms and defence equipment could be procured. The procurement network had, among its purposes, the acquisition of machinery and technology to enable Iraq to become self-sufficient in munitions manufacture, the furtherance of the Iraqi missile programme and the furtherance of the development by Iraq of a nuclear weapon capability. *1 These purposes are now, with the benefit of hindsight aided by the volume of intelligence reports that are available, evident. In order, however, fairly to assess the Government’s policy on exports of defence-related equipment to Iraq in the period following the ceasefire, it is helpful to trace the gradual accumulation over that period of evidence of Iraqi intentions and purposes. It is important that the Government’s policies should not be subjected to criticism made possible only with the benefit of hindsight. But it is also important that Government policies should be assessed and, if appropriate, criticised, on the basis of the evidence of Iraqi intentions and purposes that was available at the time.

Endnotes
*1 - For commercial and cover reasons some of the procurement was overt and legal. The establishing and use of legitimate businesses in order to cover illegal procurement was one of the tactics.

* The Full report is available from The Stationery Office Ltd., PO Box 276, London, SW8 5DT.