( PDF | ASCII text formats )
The following is mirrored from its source at: http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/23/news-crogan3.php
Made in the USA, Part III: US Company Listings N-Z
by Jim Crogan
April 25 - May 1, 2003
NCR CORPORATION
(Dayton, Ohio)Date uncertain -- Supplied $1,207,036 worth of computers, peripherals and spare parts to Iraq's State Establishment for Heavy Engineering Equipment (SEHEE), a front for Iraq's nuclear-weapons/Big Gun (giant cannon) program. Deal was financed with a letter of credit from BNL (an Italian bank). A company spokesperson said the company "did have a presence inside Iraq from 1984 to September 1990." He added that NCR had received a license from the U.S. government to export technology to Iraq. The company, said spokesman Jeff Dafler, operated in full compliance with all applicable U.S. laws, governing exports to Iraq during that time period.
NRM CORP.
(Formerly located in Akron, Ohio, it is now part of McNeil and NRM Corp., also based in Akron.)Date uncertain -- Supplied $3,310,485 worth of tire-manufacturing machines and $950,000 worth of presses and accessories to Iraq's State Establishment for Heavy Engineering Equipment, a nuclear-weapons program. Deals were financed with loans from BNL (an Italian bank). Another company, McNeil Akron Inc. (see listing above), bought NRM's assets at a bankruptcy sale in 1992. A McNeil Akron and NRM corporate representative said he had no information regarding the former NRM's exports to Iraq.
NORWALK CO.
(South Norwalk, Connecticut)Date uncertain -- Supplied a power and compressor assembly costing $66,325 to Iraq's State Establishment for Heavy Engineering Equipment, a nuclear-weapons program. Deal was financed with loan from BNL (an Italian bank).
NU KRAFT MERCANTILE CORP.
(Formerly located in Brooklyn, New York)1988 -- An alleged front company, this subsidiary (reportedly no more than an empty warehouse) of Brooklyn-based United Steel and Strip Corp., an import/export firm, allegedly transferred to Iraq more than 300 tons of thiodiglycol, which is used to make mustard gas. Allegedly received the illegally exported material from Alcolac International. The thiodiglycol reportedly traveled from Anthwerp, Belgium, to Jordan and then on to Iraq. Both Nu Kraft and United Steel and Strip Corp. have apparently ceased operations.
PERKIN-ELMER CORP.
(Formerly based in Norwalk, Connecticut. After company was sold to another corporation, the combined entities were renamed PerkinElmer Corp. It is based in Wellesley, Massachusetts.)1986 to 1989 -- Supplied more than $82,000 worth of electronic and photographic equipment for chemical research to Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission as well as more than $198,000 worth of computers to the Al Qaqaa State Establishment, Iraq's nuclear-weapons-testing program. A company spokesman said he has no information regarding exports to Iraq.
PHILLIPS EXPORT
(Now part of ConocoPhillips, a Houston, Texas-based oil and energy company.)1983 to 1985 -- Phillips Export (then part of Phillips Petroleum) sold 500 tons of thiodiglycol, a material used to make mustard gas, to the Iraqi State Enterprise for Pesticide Production, via Dutch firm KBS Holland. Also manufactured a five-ton shipment of thiodiglycol, which allegedly made its way to Iraq via the Spanish firm Cades. Cades claims chemical was destroyed prior to its delivery. Phillips Export/ConocoPhillips is a defendant in a Texas civil suit filed on behalf of some 3,500 Gulf War vets who are allegedly suffering from Gulf War Syndrome. The attorney representing ConocoPhillips in that class-action suit did not respond to the Weekly's call for comment.
POSI SEAL, INC.
(Formerly based in North Stonington, Connecticut; company passed through several owners. Its assets eventually were sold to Emerson Electric Company, based in St. Louis, Missouri.)Date uncertain -- Provided a system to fill payloads of projectiles for Iraq's chemical-weapons program, according to evidence presented in a 1992 Senate Banking Committee hearing.
PRESRAY CORP.
(Based in Pawling, New York, the company is a subsidiary of the Pawling Corp.)1988 to 1989 -- Sold rubber door seals, which can be used in nuclear or chemical facilities to prevent the spread of contaminants, to Iraq's State Electrical Industries. Vice President Ted Hollander confirmed Pressray's exports to Iraq. "I'm not happy about it, but yes, we did do business with Iraq before the first Gulf War," said Hollander. He added that Pressray got approval for the sale from the U.S. Department of Commerce. "We actually had two orders to deliver, but the second, larger one was cancelled," he said.
PURE AIRE CORP.
(Formerly located in Charlotte, North Carolina)Date uncertain -- Named as chemical-weapons-materials supplier by U.N. weapons inspectors in the first round of inspections in the 1990s. However, inspectors did not specify what Pure Aire materials were found at Iraq's Muthana weapons facility. Company may have ceased operations.
REDLAKE IMAGING CORP.
(Formerly based in Morgan Hill, California. After various corporate ownership changes, company is now called Redlake MASD, Inc., and is based in San Diego, California. It's a subsidiary of Roper Industries, headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.)1990 -- Supplied more than $10,000 worth of photographic equipment for scientific research on projectile behavior to the A. M. Daoud Research Center, a weapons-research facility. A spokesperson for Redlake MASD said the current company management has no access to the records of Redlake Imaging Corp.'s exports to Iraq.
REXON TECHNOLOGY CORP.
(Formerly based in New Jersey; company out of business.)Date uncertain -- Tried to sell 300,000 worth of artillery fuses to Iraq. The shipment was intercepted and the company prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department. Company pleaded guilty in 1995 to violating Arms Export Control Act. Company fined $500,000 and ordered closed by the court.
ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL CORP.
(Defense-related divisions of Rockwell International were purchased in mid-1990s by Boeing, which is headquartered in Chicago.)ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL COLLINS
(Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Company now known as Rockwell Collins, Inc.)1985 to 1987 -- Rockwell International sold $7,500 worth or navigational and directional finding radar to Iraqi Army Aviation Ministry. Also sold $86,000 worth of navigational and directional finding radar for airborne communications to Iraqi Airways, listed as a front company for military procurement by the U.S. Justice Department. Company also sold $114,000 worth of navigational and directional finding radar to the Iraqi Air Force.
Rockwell International Collins sold $42,000 worth of navigational and directional finding radar for airborne communication to the Iraqi Air Force Aviation Supply. Also sold $155,000 worth of navigational and directional finding radar for airborne communication, as well as electronic assemblies and integrated circuits to the Iraqi Army Aviation.
The Rockwell entities also sold more than $128,000 worth of navigational and directional finding radar for airborne communication to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.
ROTEC INDUSTRIES, INC.
(Elmhurst, Illinois)1989 -- Supplied conveyor-belt systems costing $18,708,365 to Iraq's State Machinery Trading Company and the Technical Corps for Special Projects. These exports were paid for with a letter of credit from BNL (an Italian bank). The conveyor systems were used for Iraq's nuclear and Condor II ballistic missile weapons programs, according to evidence from a 1992 Senate Banking Committee.
Company officials confirmed the transactions, also noting that Rotec had difficulty collecting its fee from BNL, said president Steven Ledger. The equipment, he noted, was used to move concrete for construction projects. Rotec did business with Iraq from 1980 until Iraq invaded Kuwait. "We still had two people in Iraq when the invasion occurred and we had to get them out after the invasion," said Ledger. "Since our equipment wasn't high technology, or restricted, we didn't have to get any special licenses to sell it." All of Rotec's sales, he said, were legal under existing U.S. law at the time.
Company owner Robert Oury said that Rotec supplied equipment for five construction projects. Four, he said, were dam projects designed to harness waterpower. "We did a lot to help Iraq's people, and we are proud of our contributions," said Oury. Neither Oury nor Ledger had any knowledge their equipment was used on military projects. Rotec's owner also said he supports President Bush's Iraq police. "And now, I think it's time for American business to step up to the plate and deliver," he said. "American business can not only help Iraq rebuild its country, but we can also help Iraq and the U.S. repair their relationship." Rotec, he added, is anxious to resume business dealings in Iraq. And he's hoping the American government's reconstruction efforts will be wide-ranging. "We need to begin a housing initiative in Iraq," he said. "What would be more valuable to the Iraqi people?" he asked. "Building a bridge, an airport or building a hundred houses for the people?"
SACKMAN ASSOCIATES
(Sudbury, Massachusetts)1989 -- Sold more than $93,000 worth of electronic assemblies, integrated circuits and computers to analyze the performance of coatings on rocket and missile cones to Iraq's Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization (MIMI). Company apparently has ceased operations.
SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA
(Atlanta, Georgia)1987 -- Sold $820,000 worth of antenna testers via German firm MBB, for shipment to Saad 16, Iraq's primary missile research-and-development site. Company is currently involved in broadband sales.
SCIENTIFIC DESIGN CO., INC.
(Little Ferry, New Jersey)1989 -- Contracted to supply some $5.74 million in engineering technology and catalyst supplies for an ethylene glycol plant that was to be built by Iraq's State Establishment for Heavy Engineering Equipment (SEHEE). It's unclear what the projected plant was ultimately intended to produce, as ethylene glycol has many potential uses. However, evidence suggested that SEHEE was a nuclear-weapons/Super Gun (giant cannon) procurement program. Deal was financed with a loan from BNL (an Italian bank). A company spokesman, in an interview, confirmed the contract, but said that work by Scientific Design ended when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and sanctions were initiated against Iraq. The plant was apparently never completed, said corporate counsel Thomas Towell.
SEMETEX CORP.
(Formerly based in Torrance, California)1989 -- Provided more than $5 million worth of computer equipment for manufacturing transistors, silicon diodes and photovoltaic devices to the Al Mansour factory, which was responsible for supplying the Iraqi rocket-launch site at Karbala, the SCUD-missile enhancement sites Al Hillah and Al Falluja, and a space-launch center at Al-Anbar. Iraq also received a loan for $7,673,500 from BNL (an Italian bank) to buy technology from Semetex for the fabrication of semiconductors for the State Establishment for Heavy Engineering Equipment, a procurement front for Iraq's nuclear-weapons program. Semetex began operations in 1975. But according to records from California's Secretary of State office, its corporate registration was suspended. Company appears to have ceased operations.
SERVAAS, INC.
(Indianapolis, Indiana)1988 to 1990 -- Supplied Iraq with "copper scrap refining machines, tools, parts and technical documents" to build a factory that would have made artillery shells and gun cartridges, according to records introduced at a 1992 Senate Banking Committee hearing. The work was done by Bridgeport Brass, an Indiana brass mill owned by Servaas.
The $40,602,000 deal was financed, with U.S. government approval, through a letter of credit from BNL (an Italian bank). The go-between with the Iraqis was Matrix Churchill, a now defunct company that was bought by the Iraqis (see Matrix Churchill entry). Servaas shipped all the material to Iraq, but the first Gulf War halted construction. The U.S. government eventually helped Servaas get full payment on the deal by allowing it to draw from frozen Iraqi funds for the final $16 million. Company owner Beurt Servaas, a former Indianapolis city councilman, testified before Congress that he had no knowledge that the factory would be producing ammunition. He said he believed the factory was to produce commercial, non-military items.
SIEMENS CORP.
(A German company with a variety of American operations. Siemens U.S. is based in New York City.)1989 -- Supplied $79,000 worth of computers for testing and control of X-ray diffraction systems to Iraq's Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization (MIMI). Thomas Phillips, a company spokesman, said all of Siemens' transactions with Iraq were "in full compliance with international rules." Siemens' work in Iraq primarily included "energy, transport, intelligence and communications," Phillips told the Weekly. But he declined to discuss specifics.
SIP CORP.
(SIP Corp. is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Its U.S. subsidiary, American SIP Corp., is based in Hebron, Kentucky.)Date uncertain -- Manufactured jig-bore equipment (high-precision milling machines) found by U.N. inspectors to have been used in the Iraqi nuclear-weapons program. A company official acknowledged that SIP probably did business with Iraq in the 1980s. "But I think that Geneva probably handled that business, and the company has not sold any machinery to Iraq since sanctions were imposed following the 1991 Gulf War," said Greg Dunkley, of American SIP.
SPECTRAL DATA CORP.
(Formerly based in Champaign, Illinois)1985 -- Provided $27,000 worth of image processing, display-systems and multi-spectral digital equipment to the University of Mosul, a procurement arm for Iraq's missile-development program. Company may have ceased operations.
SPECTRA PHYSICS
(Mountain View, California)1987 -- Provided $19,000 worth of lasers and laser-related systems to Salah al Din, a military-electronics factory built by the French, which produced three-dimensional early-warning radars, electronic countermeasures and guidance components. The site also produced equipment for making fuel for nuclear weapons, intended to arm warheads.
SPERRY CORP.
(Merged with Burroughs in 1986 to form Unisys Corp, based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.)1985 to 1986 -- Supplied $32,000 worth of computers to Saad 21, a weapons facility. Sperry also sold $68,000 worth of compasses, gyroscopes and accelerometers. These components were on the Department of Commerce list of parts used to build ballistic missiles. In addition, Sperry provided $6.2 million worth of computers to the Iraqi National Computer Center and more than $8.7 million worth of computers for a personnel database that was reportedly used for surveillance activities by the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, which supervised the secret police. Iraq also received a loan of $1,351,000 from BNL (an Italian bank) to buy computer hardware and software from Sperry, according to evidence provided for a 1992 Senate Banking Committee hearing. A Unisys company spokesperson said she had no information concerning Sperry's exports to Iraq.
SULLAIRE CORP.
(Formerly based in Charlotte, North Carolina)Dates unknown -- U.N. weapons inspectors in the first round of inspections after Gulf War I, found a variety of equipment and machinery supplied by Sullaire for use in Iraq's chemical-weapons program. Items included power-supply units, air filters for drying chemicals, buffer vessels, pressure and temperature regulators, and a refrigerator for air-drying and air compressors. Company may have ceased operations.
SWISSCO MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC.
(Formerly based in Miami Lakes, Florida. Was part of the now-dissolved Westfield Holdings, Inc., which also was based in Miami Lakes, Florida. Swissco was dissolved in 1991.)1982 to 1989 -- Shipped approximately 130 tons of unlicensed zirconium, which could be used as an incendiary additive in 24,000 cluster bombs, to Iraq. In 1995, a federal court convicted Swissco in absentia for conspiracy to export 130 tons of zirconium without the required U.S. export licenses, according to records from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security Export Enforcement Division. The court fined Swissco $1,309,230 and suspended the company's export privileges for 10 years. Swissco allegedly worked in concert with Teledyne Wah Chang (an American company) and Chilean arms dealer Carlos Cardoen to ship the zirconium to Cardoen's bomb-making plant in Chile. According to a Miami Herald report, Cardoen, now on the run from a U.S. federal warrant charging him with illegally exporting munitions, was last seen in 2001, living in Cuba.
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATIONS CORP.
(Concord, Massachusetts)Date uncertain -- Supplied $183,400 worth of equipment and training, including communication security devices to Iraq's Technical and Scientific Materials Division, a biological-warfare and military-support operation. Deal was financed by a letter of credit from BNL (an Italian bank). Also supplied digital systems and services, costing $198,400 to the State Establishment for Heavy Engineering Equipment, a nuclear-weapons program. This deal also was financed by a BNL loan.
TEKTRONIX
(Beaverton, Oregon)1985 to 1990 -- Alleged sales to Iraq included: more than $140,000 worth of oscilloscopes, electronic testing equipment, computers and peripherals to various buyers, including the Military Technical College, University of Baghdad, Iraqi National Oil Co. and the National Center for Engineering; more than $12,000 worth of oscilloscopes used to maintain Iraqi Air Force computers; at least $50,000 worth of electronic measuring equipment to SOTI, the procurement arm for rocket production, Scud-missile enhancement and space-rocket development; $80,000 worth of radio-spectrum analyzers sold to the Iraqi Scientific Research Council. The Scientific Research Council, headed by General Amer Rashid al-Obeidi, was an Iraqi procurement front, whose goal was to acquire sensitive technology, computers and scientific equipment it could channel into Iraq's military-research effort. The Scientific Research Council sponsored a variety of projects, including biological-weapons research, according to a former U.N. weapons inspector. Tektronix also sold a digital oscilloscope, which has nuclear applications, to the German firm Gildemeister, for resale to Saad 16, an Iraqi weapons-manufacturing facility.
In a series of contacts with the Weekly, the company acknowledged some, but not all of the exports listed in other documentation. The company's reckoning came up with 16 export licenses for exports whose value totaled less than $250,000. The company also insisted that it scrupulously complied with U.S. export policies and laws, and took the extra precaution of screening exports with U.S. government agencies. Tektronix's own export policy requires screening all transactions of materials that could have both civilian and military application, said spokesman Doug Babb. "Where the company has no capability to evaluate the end-user directly, as is the case for Iraq, the company must rely on U.S. governmental licensing authorities, which have access to extensive intelligence capabilities." Another company official added that "To our knowledge, no Tektronix products have entered Iraq since the imposition of sanctions a decade ago."
TELEDYNE WAH CHANG
(Company now called Wah Chang and is based in Albany, Oregon. It's part of Allegheny Technologies, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.)1986 -- Exported more than 130 tons of zirconium, which could be used as an incendiary additive in cluster bombs, to the bomb-making plant in Chile of arms dealer Carlos Cardoen, who allegedly sold illegal weaponry to Iraq. U.S. agents, who were investigating illegal zirconium sales to Iraq, raided the company in March 1992. Wah Chang's former parent company, Teledyne Industries, Inc., pleaded guilty in 1995 to federal charges of criminal conspiracy, making false statements and violations of the Export Administration Act and the Arms Export Control Act. Teledyne paid $13 million in fines for Wah Chang's illegal zirconium exports. Teledyne employee Edward Johnson was sentenced to 41 months in prison in connection with these illegal exports. Wah Chang means "great development" in Chinese.
THERMO JARRELL ASH CORP.
(Formerly based in Franklin, Massachusetts, now part of Thermo Electron Corporation, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts)1989 -- Sold more than $350,000 worth of spectrometers to measure particles in geological and clinical sample of liquids and solids to the Iraqi Scientific Research Council, a front for the Iraqi military.
TI COATING
(Utica, Michigan)1989 -- Supplied more than $373,000 worth of cutting-tool coating and chemical-vapor deposition blueprints as well as training manuals to apply coating supplies used to cover and protect tool-cutting equipment. Materials went to the Badr Establishment of Mechanical Engineering, responsible for producing aerial bombs, and centrifuges used to produce fuel for nuclear weapons.
The transaction was completely legal, said William Zichichi, the company president and CEO. His company, in fact, received export-license approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce, he said. TI sold the supplies and manuals to XYZ Options, Inc., another Iraqi supplier. XYZ then delivered TI Coating's materials to the Badr Establishment of Mechanical Engineering. XYZ, Zichichi said, went bankrupt before TI Coating was paid. TI Coating ultimately received a small settlement as part of XYZ's bankruptcy proceedings, he added.
TRADING AND INVESTMENT CORP.
(Charlotte, North Carolina)Dates unknown -- Supplied two shipments of float valves and bearings worth $352,560 to the Al Hilal Industrial Company, named as a "sometime procurement front" for Iraq's weapons programs, according to records from a 1992 Senate Banking Committee. The transactions were financed through letters of credit from BNL (an Italian bank).
This export company, owned by Fanar Alghrary, an Iraqi-American, is still active. Alghrary confirmed to the Weekly that his company did sell the two shipments to Al Hilal. But Alghrary disputes the congressional allegation that Al Hilal operated as an Iraqi military-procurement front. "I know about that, and I told [government] investigators that it was B.S.," said Alghrary. "They [Al Hilal] make cooling equipment for buildings. I know them and that's all I know them doing." Alghrary also stated that 90 percent of his sales to Iraq were to Iraq's State Company for Drugs and Medical Appliances Marketing. The U.S. government, he added, approved the sales.
UNION CARBIDE
(Based in Danbury, Connecticut. It merged in 2001 with Dow Chemical Company, headquartered in Midland, Michigan.)Dates unknown -- U.N. weapons inspectors in the 1990s identified Union Carbide shipments to Iraq of the chemical Xylene, which was used in Iraq's chemical-weapons program. A spokesperson for Dow Chemical said he had no information regarding Union Carbide's exports.
UNISYS CORP.
(Blue Bell, Pennsylvania)Dates unknown -- Contracts allegedly included: $8,000 worth of computers to Saad State Establishment, which was involved with Iraq's missile research-and-development programs; more than $2.4 million worth of computers sold to the Iraqi Ministry of Planning; $2.2 million worth of computers to the Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization, which was responsible for nuclear-, missile- and chemical-weapons program; $323,000 worth of computers sold to Iraq's Nuclear Computer Center; $430,000 worth of computers sold to Saddam State Establishment, a military-procurement agency; at least $500,000 worth of computers, ostensibly for use in payroll and accounting, to the Ministry of Defense, which oversaw the State Organization for Technical Industries (SOTI) and Saad 16, a weapons-manufacturing facility. Unisys also supplied more than $8.7 million worth of computers for a personnel database reportedly used by the Ministry of the Interior, which supervised the Iraqi secret police. The database was set up at airports and border-crossing stations.
A written response issued by the company, stated, "Unisys did supply commercial information technology systems to the country of Iraq in the 1980s before the Gulf War, under proper export licenses by the United States government in accordance with the policy governing relations with Iraq at that time. Unisys has not made any such sales to Iraq, since that time." Maureen O'Brien, a company spokesperson, declined to discuss any specifics regarding these exports.
VEECO INSTRUMENTS, INC.
(Woodbury, New York)1986 -- Provided $4,600 worth of computers for use by German firm Interatom GmbH in the manufacturing of Iraqi nuclear-power stations and the construction of photovoltaic plants for SOTI, a procurement arm for Saad 16, Iraq's primary missile production-and-testing site.
WILD MAGNAVOX SATELLITE SURVEY
(A joint venture between Magnavox Survey System, Inc., and Wild Heerbrugg Survey Company. Magnavox Electronics, a consumer-electronics firm based in Atlanta, is now owned by Dutch-based Koninklijke Philips N.V. Wild Heerbrugg, began in Switzerland. Through mergers and acquisitions, it is now part of Swiss-based Leica Holding B.V. Group.)1988 -- Supplied more than $270,000 worth of navigational-, directional-finding radar and airborne-communication equipment to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. This joint venture appears to have ceased operations.
WILTRON
(Now owned by Anritsu Corp., based in Atsugi, Japan, with North American headquarters in Morgan Hill, California)1987 -- Shipped scalar network analyzers, capable of testing and developing microwave circuits for missile-guidance radar. Shipments went to Germany for shipment via MBB (a German company) to Saad 16, Iraq's missile research-and-development center. Wiltron also sold $50,000 of electronic measuring, testing and calibrating equipment.
XYZ OPTIONS INC.
(Formerly located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- company defunct.)1989 -- Sold powder press, suitable for the compaction of nuclear fuels to Iraq. XYZ, in partnership with Matrix Churchill Corp. (MCC), also built a $14 million plant for the production of high-precision tungsten-carbide tools. The contract was with Iraq's Badr Establishment of Mechanical Engineering, responsible for producing aerial bombs, and centrifuges used to produce fuel for nuclear weapons. The MCC/XYZ/Badr plant was located at Al Atheer, Iraq's nuclear weapons design-and-research center, which was destroyed during the first round of U.N. inspections in the 1990s. XYZ also owned CarbiTech of Topeka, Kansas, which trained dozens of Iraqis to manufacture carbide-tipped inserts for machine tools used in nuclear production. In addition, XYZ received letters of credit totaling $6,826,193 from BNL (an Italian bank) to sell furnaces, machinery, equipment and supplies to the Iraqi State Machinery Trading Company. XYZ obtained equipment for its Iraqi project with MCC from about 25 U.S. vendors and a smaller number of foreign sources. XYX, which went bankrupt, has apparently ceased operations.
YORK INTERNATIONAL CORP.
(York, Pennsylvania)Date unknown -- According to records introduced at a 1992 Senate Banking Committee hearing on U.S. export policy toward Iraq before the Kuwait invasion, York exported $3,250,000 worth of control panels and packaged liquid coolers that were used in Iraq's nuclear-weapons program. Shipments were financed by BNL (an Italian bank).
ZETA LABORATORIES, INC.
(Formerly based in Santa Clara, California, Zeta -- now in Morgan Hill, California. After a series of sales, Zeta was purchased by Integrated Defense Technologies, Inc., of Huntsville, Alabama.)1988 -- Provided more than $2.2 million worth of quartz crystals and electronic assemblies for radar systems to Salah Al Din, a military-electronics firm built by French firm Thomson-CSF. Salah Al Din produced radar, electronic countermeasures, inertial-guidance components and equipment for making nuclear-weapons fuel. The equipment was sold to the Iraqi Trading Company, a front used for Iraqi military procurement. Zeta also received a letter of credit for $1.1 million from BNL (an Italian bank) to sell an oscillator to the Iraqi Trading Company. During this period Zeta also was a contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense, deriving most of its income from those federal contracts.
Zeta is one of several companies that are now part of Integrated Defense Technologies, a developer and provider of advanced electronics and technology products to defense and intelligence industries. IDT's clients include all branches of the U.S. military. A company spokesman said he has no information regarding the Iraq transactions, which occurred under different corporate ownership.
Copyright © 2003 Jim Crogan
Copyright © 2003 The L.A. Weekly
Reprinted for Fair Use Only.