Arms-to-Iraq

This is a priority topic relating to deep politics.  Additions to this page are particularly welcome,
though be advised that the official narrative is particularly suspect.

The Arms-to-Iraq affair concerned the exposure of government-endorsed sales of arms by British companies to Iraq during a period when there was a government-endorsed UN embargo on such sales. The period coincided roughly with the 8 years of war between Iraq and Iran when Margaret Thatcher was the British Prime Minister. The revelations precipitated a Judicial Inquiry under Sir Richard Scott. The Inquiry was set up in 1992 following the collapse of the Matrix Churchill trial (see below) and finally reported in 1996 . Much of both the report itself and the Inquiry evidence remain classified. The affair caused a major scandal which contributed to growing dissatisfaction with the then Conservative government of John Major and contributed to the victory of Tony Blair's Labour Party at the 1997 general election. It also

Following the first Gulf War of 1991, over the Iraqi invasion of neighboring Kuwait, there was interest in the extent to which British companies had been supplying Saddam Hussein's regime with weapons and materials used to prosecute the war. Four directors of the British machine tools manufacturer Matrix Churchill were put on trial for supplying equipment and knowledge to Iraq, but in 1992 the trial collapsed, when it became clear that the company had been advised by senior government ministers and officials on how best to circumvent its own arms embargo. Several of the directors were eventually paid compensation.

Matrix Churchill

Matrix Churchill was a company that produced machine tools in Coventry, England, that had been bought by the Iraqi government. According to the International Atomic Energy Authority, its products found in Iraq, were among the highest quality of their kind in the world. They were 'dual use' machines that could be used to manufacture weapons parts. As one of the Directors claimed to have been working for the intelligence services, the Ministry of Defence advised Matrix Churchill on how to apply for export licenses of materials that could be used to make munitions in such a way that would not attract attention. When Alan Clark admitted under oath that he had been "economical with the actualité" in answering questions about the policy on arms exports to Iraq, the trial collapsed and triggered the Scott Inquiry.

The affair was also notable for the copious use of 'Public Interest Immunity Certificates'. This is a procedure whereby information alleged to be highly sensitive to national security is withheld from public disclosure. In this case it was used to deny defendants access to documents and information which proved their innocence of charges brought against them by the prosecuting authorities. The certificates were issued by relevant government ministers and the overwhelming evidence is that the real motivation had little to do with 'National Security' and much to do with the attempted suppression of information embarrassing to the government.

Walter Somers Ltd

Involved in similar fashion to Matrix Churchill - especially in connection with manufacturing parts for the Iraqi 'Super-gun'

Sheffield Forgemasters Ltd

Involved in similar fashion to Matrix Churchill - especially in connection with manufacturing parts for the Iraqi 'Super-gun'

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Armed and Dangerous	article	1 March 1996	Paul Foot	Arguments about whether ministers should resign are not the main point of the Scott Report, says Paul Foot. The real dynamite is in the connection between government and the arms industry - and the level of deception involved
Document:Asil Nadir: another victim of the arms-to-Iraq conspiracy?	article	December 2013	Andrew Rosthorn	Commentary on evidence suggesting that Asil Nadir is the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice in furtherance of the continued high-level cover-up of the 'Arms-to-Iraq' scandal through the 1980's
Document:Big Brother - One Man's Story	account	1 January 2010	Gerald James	The workings of secret, unaccountable government (The Deep State) of the UK. It functions, not only with callous disregard for the lives of those who get in its way but through Machiavellian manipulation of them - The sobering experiences of Gerald James.
Document:CIA Research Paper SW91-10076X - Intelligence Summary	Research paper	November 1991	CIA	Transcription of the unredacted 'Intelligence Summary' (pages 22-26) of CIA Research paper SW91-10076X titled 'Project Babylon' which names two ex-SAS soldiers as having been contracted to eliminate Gerald Bull
Document:Gerald James 2007 FOIA Appeal Statement	legal document	2007	Gerald James	Gerald James' appeal statement in the matter of the UK government refusal to release documents which would support his allegations of SIS orchestration of events and people that resulted in the destruction of his company, Astra Holdings.
Document:In Defence of the Indefensible	article	1997	David Guyatt	A critique of the Scott Report on the illegal export of military equipment to Iraq through the 1980's
Document:Maggie's Guilty Secret	article	December 2013	John Hughes-Wilson	A brief resume of the Arms-to-Iraq affair by a former colonel on NATO's international political staff in Brussels. It revisits the abortive rescue of US diplomatic staff held hostage by Iran under President Carter, paving the way for the UK to supply arms to both sides in the soon-to-follow Iran-Iraq war in covert defiance of UN sanctions. The UK establishment has been engaged in a monumental cover-up ever since.
Document:Project Babylon and the still smoking Iraqi supergun	article	2 May 2014	Andrew Rosthorn	A startling account of the murky dealings of the British political establishment and security services surrounding the Arms-to-Iraq affair in general and the legal proceedings against Asil Nadir in particular
Document:Secret Justice	article	1 December 2013	Martin Tancock	A forensic examination of the legal shenanigans surrounding the 2012 trial of Asil Nadir. It clearly demonstrates how all branches of the Establishment can close ranks in defense of the indefensible. When gross illegalities on the part of government and its senior members must be hidden in the alleged Public or National Security interest, then the police, judges, ministers and senior civil servants can be relied upon to do whatever is necessary.
Document:Stephan Kock - Spook	article	December 1994	Mark Phythian	A detailed look at the career of Stephan Adolphus Kock, one of the spooks at the centre of the Arms-to-Iraq and Pergau Dam scandals
Document:Whistler against the wind - Gerald James	profile	18 June 1995	Cal McCrystal	A profile of Gerald James, former Chairman of Astra Holdings and his battles against his appalling treatment by a corrupt system intent on hiding the dirty secrets of the Arms-to-Iraq affair.
File:CIA Research Paper SW91-100076X Redacted.pdf	Research paper	November 1991	CIA	Redacted CIA Research paper SW91-10076X titled 'Project Babylon' as it appeared on the CIA web site in July 2012
File:CIA Research Paper SW91-100076X summary.pdf	Research paper	November 1991	CIA	Unredacted 'Intelligence Summary' (pages 22-26) of CIA Research paper SW91-10076X titled 'Project Babylon' and naming two ex-SAS soldiers as having been contracted to eliminate Gerald Bull
File:CIA Research Paper SW91-100076X un-redacted.pdf	Research paper	November 1991	CIA	Unredacted CIA Research paper SW91-10076X titled 'Project Babylon:The Iraq Supergun' (pages 1-21)
File:Gerald James 2007 FOIA Appeal Statement.pdf	legal document	2007	Gerald James
File:GeraldJamesStatements.pdf	legal document	2007	Gerald James
File:LetterGeraldBull-PhilippeGlibert311089(2).pdf	letter	31 October 1989	Gerald Bull
File:LetterGeraldBull-PhilippeGlibert311089.pdf	letter	31 October 1989	Gerald Bull
File:TheBrusselsTrip.pdf	letter	6 March 1990	Astra Defence Systems Ltd

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Bibliography

• Cowley, Chris Blake, Robin - Supergun: A Political Scandal - publisher Arrow - isbn 0-09-918781-7
• Leigh, David - Betrayed: Trial of Matrix Churchill - Bloomsbury Publishing PLC 1993 - isbn 0-7475-1552-2
• Miller, Davina - Export or Die: Britain's Defence Trade with Iran and Iraq (Global Issues) - Northeastern University Press 1997 - isbn 1-55553-285-3
• Norton-Taylor, Richard Lloyd, Mark Cook, Stephen - Knee Deep in Dishonour: Scott Report and Its Aftermath - Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1996 - isbn 0-575-06385-8
• Phythian, Mark - Arming Iraq (Northeastern Series in Transnational Crime) - Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. 1996 - isbn 0-304-33852-4
• James, Gerald - In the Public Interest - Little, Brown & Co 1995 - isbn 0-316-877190
• Cowley, Chris - Guns, Lies and Spies - Hamish Hamilton Ltd 1992 - isbn 0-241-13447-1

See also

• ISBN 0316877190 "In the Public Interest" - Gerald James. A devastating account of the Thatcher Government's involvement in the covert arms trade by the man who turned Astra Fireworks into a £100 million arms manufacturer.
• Gerald James
• In Defense of the Indefensible - an article by David Guyatt
• Document:Armed and Dangerous - An article by Paul Foot
• Iraq Super-gun
• Gerald Bull
• Andre Cools
• Chris Gumbley
• Stephan Adolphus Kock

External links

• JANCOM web site - There is a wealth of information on the 'Arms to Iraq' episode on this site. It's purpose is to seek a measure of genuine justice for Asil Nadir whose business interests impinge dramatically on arms deals and the people who profited from them that the UK authorities are determined to obfuscate and hide.
• BBC On This Day 15th Feb - 1996: Arms-to-Iraq report published
• Co-Operative Research - Companies selling arms to Iraq 1981 - 1993
• Guardian Unlimited - Arms to Iraq inquiry affects control on exports - 07/12/00
• ICH - Congressional Record Arms Sales to Iraq - 21/09/92
• ISIS - Matrix Churchill
• The Mirror - Iraq: The Lying Game by John Pilger 27/08/02
• Video of Robin Cook's Commons Address in 3 parts