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Return
to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons
dated 18 July 1996 for the Appendices to the Report of the Inquiry into
the Export of Defence Equipment and Dual-Use Goods to Iraq and Related
Prosecutions laid before The House on 15 February 1996*
Volume Two
Section D Arms and Defence-Related Exports to Iraq
Chapter 7 Other Allegations of Illegal Arms Exports to Iraq
Excerpt:
AMMUNITION BOXES FOUND IN IRAQ AND KUWAIT
AMMUNITION BOXES FOUND IN IRAQ AND KUWAIT
D7.6 In the July 1993 issue of Business Age magazine Mr Kevin Cahill wrote an article entitled: “What Lord Justice Scott hasn’t been told”. The article was centred around an allegation by Mr Cahill that the British Government had sold ammunition produced by Royal Ordnance to Iraq in 1985 and 1986. *9 The article featured a photograph of the lid of an ammunition box allegedly found in Iraq and apparently marked as follows: “A&S MOD RO IRAQ L/C No 86/1/450”. According to Mr Cahill the markings showed that:
“.... the ammunition [81mm mortar shells] was first delivered
[by Royal Ordnance] to the Ammunition and Supply division of the Ministry
of Defence.... From there, it was requisitioned and sent direct to Iraq
by the Ministry of Defence via International Military Sales, the Ministry
of Defence’s private sales organisation. The letter of credit - number
450 - was issued by the military sales division of a British bank, and
was good from the January 1st, 1986.”
D7.7 The MOD was asked by the Inquiry to comment on the allegations made by Mr Cahill and in particular on Mr Cahill’s interpretation of the provenance of the ammunition box markings. *10 The MOD’s response was that although “it is not possible to identify the box in the photograph definitively” it is “not of the type approved for UK land service storage of 81mm ammunition and we do not consider that it ever held MOD stocks.” *11 Mr Cahill responded direct to the MOD, again suggesting that for the following reasons the ammunition box must have originated from Royal Ordnance in the UK:
“A&S. I understand from the Deputy Chairman of Customs, as well
as my army friends that this is or was, the standard marking for the Ammunition
and Supply Dept. of the MOD.
The triangular marking is standard, but not exclusive or unique
to the Iraqi’s .
RO is the standard marking on Royal Ordnance produced supplies,
particularly those for export.
Iraq, fairly logically indicates that the contents of the box were not, contrary to what you assert, made in Iraq, but came from outside the country. Indeed, it seems to have slipped your mind that Iraq is an Arab country and all Iraq originated military supplies carry markings in Arabic.
Now, the L/C is unequivocal. It indicates that a letter of credit was issued by an English language source.... The date is January 1st 1986 and the 450 is either the L/C number, or far more likely, the RO batch number.” *12
D7.8 At the Inquiry’s Request, Mr Christopher Sandars responded to the points made in Mr Cahill’s letter. His response was as follows:
“.... as a result of your [the Inquiry’s] letter of 20 October, an examination has been carried out of material found in Iraq and returned to the UK after the Gulf conflict. During this review, we have identified crates of RPG (Rifle Propelled Grenade) ammunition, found in Iraq after the conflict, which contained markings with the same format as the box photographed in Business Age. On these boxes, the marking which appears to be RO in the Business Age photograph is in fact RQ in every case but one (where the marking is obscured). We believe these crates probably came from the former Yugoslavia since, although markings have been disguised on these boxes to protect the supplier, both Roman and Cyrillic script appear on the munitions themselves which our experts have seen only on former Yugoslav ammunition. The boxes contained PG-7M munitions for use in RPG-7 rocket launchers. This former Soviet Union ammunition is not used in the West nor manufactured by Royal Ordnance. While these boxes do not provide conclusive evidence they do indicate strongly that the box shown in Business Age had nothing to do with British manufactured ammunition and that the markings on the box carry none of the constructions placed on them by Mr Cahill. There are other indications which support this to which I will turn now.
First, I can say categorically that ‘A&S’ is not a standard
marking used by MOD for the supply and storage of ammunition. Neither
the Directorate of Land Service Ammunition or the Directorate of Base
Depots recognise the abbreviation. I am also assured by Customs and Excise
that the Deputy Chairman had not advised Mr Cahill that ‘A&S’ was a standard
MOD marking.
Second, the triangular symbol on the box is an Iraqi sign which denotes
Government property. The outer triangular shape is a common feature
of Iraq’s formation symbols (notably the Republican Guard) and the marking
inside is, I am advised, a stylised arabic letter denoting ‘Army’. We
consider it most unlikely that this symbol is used by any country other
than Iraq. As to the marking which appears to be RO, I understand that this is
not, and never has been, a standard marking for ammunition supplied
by RO [Royal Ordnance] plc to the British Army. Each RO factory has
a monogram of its own: ammunition manufactured at Radway Green, for
example, is marked RG; and Glascoed is GD.” *13
D7.9 I am satisfied by the evidence of Mr Sandars that the ammunition box which is pictured in Mr Cahill’s article did not originate from Royal Ordnance or from the UK Ministry of Defence. Further, I have seen the joint report compiled by the British army regiments involved in the clear- up operation in Iraq and Kuwait following the end of the Gulf conflict. This report shows, to my satisfaction, that, “with the exception of Barmines sold to the Kuwaitis before the war and used by the Iraqis after the invasion of Kuwait and ammunition expended by British forces during hostilities” no UK manufactured ammunition was found in either Iraq or Kuwait at the end of the Gulf conflict. *14
Endnotes:
*9 - Similar allegations were made to the Inquiry by Mr Christopher Cowley, a former employee of the Space Research Corporation, at pp.16-18 of his written Statement dated 30 September 1993 (GENR/214): “In January 1989 I visited Amman with an Iraqi official.... there I noted Iraqi lorries being loaded with ammunition pallets clearly marked MODRO Al Fao Organisation c/o Jordanian Armed Forces followed by a letter a L/C No.”
*10 - see the letter to Mr Christopher Sandars, now MOD/Assistant Under Secretary of State (Export, Policy and Finance), dated 12 July 1993 (MOD/305)
*11 - see the letter from the MOD Scott Inquiry Unit dated 28 July 1993 (MOD/354)
*12 - GENR/267
*13 - see the letter from Christopher Sandars dated 23 December 1993 (MOD/626)
*14 - MOD/626; MOD/746
* The Full report is available from The Stationery Office Ltd., PO Box 276, London, SW8 5DT.