Iraq Arms Sales Europe

It was the ideal marriage. On one side, a dictator with a grudge, ready cash and a will to possess unchallenged military power; on the other, a nation with an advanced high-tech industry and a proud tradition of selling to any and all. That connection, between an array of mainly German companies and the envoys of Saddam Hussein, underpinned a carefully constructed Iraqi purchasing network across Europe that operated for the better part of a decade.

It was the ideal marriage. On one side, a dictator with a grudge, ready cash and a will to possess unchallenged military power; on the other, a nation with an advanced high-tech industry and a proud tradition of selling to any and all. That connection, between an array of mainly German companies and the envoys of Saddam Hussein, underpinned a carefully constructed Iraqi purchasing network across Europe that operated for the better part of a decade.

The Commerce Department approved millions of dollars in high-technology exports to an Iraqi research center after a classified Pentagon report warned on Nov. 6, 1986, that the nine-acre complex north of Baghdad was secretly developing missiles and weapons of mass destruction, according to government sources familiar with the report.

The Commerce Department approved millions of dollars in high-technology exports to an Iraqi research center after a classified Pentagon report warned on Nov. 6, 1986, that the nine-acre complex north of Baghdad was secretly developing missiles and weapons of mass destruction, according to government sources familiar with the report.