Mine warfare
Some of the most vivid images of the Iran-Iraq war were of Iranian volunteers charging into minefields, to clear them by sacrificing their own lives. Mine warfare in the Persian Gulf was one of the U.S. justifications for direct military action against Iran. It is relevant, then, to identify the sources of those mines.
Italian mine warfare technology
Italy exported land abd bavak mines both to Iraq and Iran before and during the Iran-Iraq War. Its mine industry revolved around three small companies: Valsella, Misar, and Tecnovar. The latter two were formed by frmer Valsella employees. All three specialized in landmines and mine-related products and were involved in direct exports and licensed overseas production. Given the limited national market, the bulk of their revenues came from exports. Favored by major banking support, public financing of much weapons development and a permissive Italian export regime, these companies quickly achieved remarkable sales and profits through the late 1980s. [1]
Move of Italian work to Singapore
"With the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in September 1980, Valsella began receiving government authorizations for exports to Iraq. A total of seven were granted, the last one issued in 1982 and expiring in January of 1984. The overall value of the exports amounted to more than US $110 million. But political pressures resulted in increasing restrictions on exports to Iraq. To skirt these restrictions, the company set up a new branch abroad in Singapore, where assembled mines with Vasella components and explosive from Bofors in Sweden, for shipment to Iraq in 1982. A new partnership exported mines to Iraq until 1986.
In 1984, Fiat gradually gained control over Valsella and Misar. By this time Valsella mainly focused on the R&D of increasingly sophisticated landmines (like electronic mines and mines with remote control activation, with radio crypto-coded signals), while Misar carried out considerable research and development of naval mines, though not to the exclusion of land systems
Spinoff companies and Italian prosecutions
Also, while Valsella only seemed peripherally interested in selling its know-how abroad, Misar was especially active in foreign licensing and coproduction, becoming an influential player in global production of small, detection-resistant antipersonnel mines.
- Expal, Explosivos Alaveses, belonging to the Spanish group Explosivos Rio Tinto, probably controlled by the Kuwait Investment Office (KIO) during the Iran-Iraq war.
- Spel , Sociedad Portugueisa Explosivos, Portugal.
- Elviemek, Hellenic Explosives and Ammunition Industry, Greece. License n. 9328 dated 17 May 1982. In the early ‘80s, Elviemek agreed on a production contract in South Africa with the local Armscor Holding, a company having close connections with the Israeli state-owned weapons manufacturer Israel Military Industries (IMI), based in Tel Aviv
The years immediately following Fiat’s take over of the Italian landmine industry did not prove uniformly successful. While Misar’s growth continued, Valsella’s sales shrank, showing a negative balance by 1986. ... Valsella’s managers were arrested on a charge of illegal trading with Iraq. Plea-bargaining in their 1991 trial, they acknowledged having committed irregularities; in December 1991 the Supreme Court acquitted the managers of the serious crimes of illegal arms trade and violation of the currency regulations. [2]
Chemical Warfare
In December 2002, Iraq's 1,200 page Weapons Declaration revealed a list of Eastern and Western corporations and countries—as well as individuals—that exported chemical and biological materials to Iraq in the past two decades. By far, the largest suppliers of precursors for chemical weapons production were in Singapore (4,515 tons). The Kim Al-Khaleej firm of Singapore supplied more than 4,500 tons of VX, sarin, and mustard gas precursors and production equipment to Iraq. No searches on this firm have had hits other than for this topic, suggesting it might be a front company for Iraqi procurement.
"Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix came to similar conclusions on Jan. 27, [2002] when he delivered an "update" to the U.N. Security Council based on his inspection efforts in Iraq [3] according to Timmerman, "...Blix's recent report to the United Nations documented many other instances in which Iraq has failed to disclose prohibited weapons. The Iraqi documents, revealed here for the first time, portray a worldwide procurement network that relied on top-drawer assistance from governments and major banks in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Iraq's suppliers range from huge multinational corporations... little-known entities, such as an outfit identified by the Iraqis as "Kim Al-Khalleej" of Singapore, which they claimed supplied more than 4,500 tons of VX-, sarin- and mustard-gas precursors and production equipment." [4]
The Iraqi disclosure mentioned various companies that have acted as third-country buyers for Iraq..."during the Iran-Iraq war India delivered precursors for warfare agents to Iraq - and later was found to have delivered quantities of the same materials to Iran. Baghdad's middleman at the time, an Iraqi with a German passport, founded a company in Singapore expressly for this purpose." [5]
References
- ^ "Italy: Production and Transfer", Land Mine Monitor, 1999
- ^ McGrath, Rae (October 1992), Hidden Death: Land Mines and Civilian Casualties In Iraqi Kurdistan, Middle East Watch, A Division of Human Rights Watch
- ^ Frank, Mitch (2 Feb 2003), "The Inspections So Far: The Blix Scorecard", Time
- ^ Timmerman, Kenneth R. (18 Feb 2003), "Eurobiz is caught arming Saddam; the strident opposition in some European capitals to U.S. military action against Saddam Hussein may have roots in some bottom-line corporate considerations - The world: Iraq's weapons of mass destruction", Insight on the News
- ^ Erikson, Marc (5 February 2003), Germany's leading role in arming Iraq
Mine warfare
Some of the most vivid images of the Iran-Iraq war were of Iranian volunteers charging into minefields, to clear them by sacrificing their own lives. Mine warfare in the Persian Gulf was one of the U.S. justifications for direct military action against Iran. It is relevant, then, to identify the sources of those mines.
Italian mine warfare technology
Italy exported land abd bavak mines both to Iraq and Iran before and during the Iran-Iraq War. Its mine industry revolved around three small companies: Valsella, Misar, and Tecnovar. The latter two were formed by frmer Valsella employees. All three specialized in landmines and mine-related products and were involved in direct exports and licensed overseas production. Given the limited national market, the bulk of their revenues came from exports. Favored by major banking support, public financing of much weapons development and a permissive Italian export regime, these companies quickly achieved remarkable sales and profits through the late 1980s. [1]
Move of Italian work to Singapore
"With the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in September 1980, Valsella began receiving government authorizations for exports to Iraq. A total of seven were granted, the last one issued in 1982 and expiring in January of 1984. The overall value of the exports amounted to more than US $110 million. But political pressures resulted in increasing restrictions on exports to Iraq. To skirt these restrictions, the company set up a new branch abroad in Singapore, where assembled mines with Vasella components and explosive from Bofors in Sweden, for shipment to Iraq in 1982. A new partnership exported mines to Iraq until 1986.
In 1984, Fiat gradually gained control over Valsella and Misar. By this time Valsella mainly focused on the R&D of increasingly sophisticated landmines (like electronic mines and mines with remote control activation, with radio crypto-coded signals), while Misar carried out considerable research and development of naval mines, though not to the exclusion of land systems
Spinoff companies and Italian prosecutions
Also, while Valsella only seemed peripherally interested in selling its know-how abroad, Misar was especially active in foreign licensing and coproduction, becoming an influential player in global production of small, detection-resistant antipersonnel mines.
- Expal, Explosivos Alaveses, belonging to the Spanish group Explosivos Rio Tinto, probably controlled by the Kuwait Investment Office (KIO) during the Iran-Iraq war.
- Spel , Sociedad Portugueisa Explosivos, Portugal.
- Elviemek, Hellenic Explosives and Ammunition Industry, Greece. License n. 9328 dated 17 May 1982. In the early ‘80s, Elviemek agreed on a production contract in South Africa with the local Armscor Holding, a company having close connections with the Israeli state-owned weapons manufacturer Israel Military Industries (IMI), based in Tel Aviv
The years immediately following Fiat’s take over of the Italian landmine industry did not prove uniformly successful. While Misar’s growth continued, Valsella’s sales shrank, showing a negative balance by 1986. ... Valsella’s managers were arrested on a charge of illegal trading with Iraq. Plea-bargaining in their 1991 trial, they acknowledged having committed irregularities; in December 1991 the Supreme Court acquitted the managers of the serious crimes of illegal arms trade and violation of the currency regulations. [2]
Chemical Warfare
In December 2002, Iraq's 1,200 page Weapons Declaration revealed a list of Eastern and Western corporations and countries—as well as individuals—that exported chemical and biological materials to Iraq in the past two decades. By far, the largest suppliers of precursors for chemical weapons production were in Singapore (4,515 tons). The Kim Al-Khaleej firm of Singapore supplied more than 4,500 tons of VX, sarin, and mustard gas precursors and production equipment to Iraq. No searches on this firm have had hits other than for this topic, suggesting it might be a front company for Iraqi procurement.
"Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix came to similar conclusions on Jan. 27, [2002] when he delivered an "update" to the U.N. Security Council based on his inspection efforts in Iraq [3] according to Timmerman, "...Blix's recent report to the United Nations documented many other instances in which Iraq has failed to disclose prohibited weapons. The Iraqi documents, revealed here for the first time, portray a worldwide procurement network that relied on top-drawer assistance from governments and major banks in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Iraq's suppliers range from huge multinational corporations... little-known entities, such as an outfit identified by the Iraqis as "Kim Al-Khalleej" of Singapore, which they claimed supplied more than 4,500 tons of VX-, sarin- and mustard-gas precursors and production equipment." [4]
The Iraqi disclosure mentioned various companies that have acted as third-country buyers for Iraq..."during the Iran-Iraq war India delivered precursors for warfare agents to Iraq - and later was found to have delivered quantities of the same materials to Iran. Baghdad's middleman at the time, an Iraqi with a German passport, founded a company in Singapore expressly for this purpose." [5]
References
- ^ "Italy: Production and Transfer", Land Mine Monitor, 1999
- ^ McGrath, Rae (October 1992), Hidden Death: Land Mines and Civilian Casualties In Iraqi Kurdistan, Middle East Watch, A Division of Human Rights Watch
- ^ Frank, Mitch (2 Feb 2003), "The Inspections So Far: The Blix Scorecard", Time
- ^ Timmerman, Kenneth R. (18 Feb 2003), "Eurobiz is caught arming Saddam; the strident opposition in some European capitals to U.S. military action against Saddam Hussein may have roots in some bottom-line corporate considerations - The world: Iraq's weapons of mass destruction", Insight on the News
- ^ Erikson, Marc (5 February 2003), Germany's leading role in arming Iraq