- Hewlett Packard, Dupont, Honeywell and other major U.S.
corporations, as well as governmental agencies including the Department
of Defense and the nation's nuclear labs, all illegally helped Iraq to
build its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs.
-
- On Wednesday, December 18, Geneva-based reporter Andreas
Zumach broke the story on the US national listener-sponsored radio and
television show "Democracy Now!" Zumach's Berlin-based paper
Die Tageszeitung plans to soon publish a full list of companies and nations
who have aided Iraq. The paper first reported on Tuesday that German and
U.S. companies had extensive ties to Iraq but didn't list names.
-
- Zumach obtained top-secret portions of Iraq's 12,000-page
weapons declaration that the US had redacted from the version made available
to the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.
-
- "We have 24 major U.S. companies listed in the report
who gave very substantial support especially to the biological weapons
program but also to the missile and nuclear weapons program," Zumach
said. "Pretty much everything was illegal in the case of nuclear and
biological weapons. Every form of cooperation and supplies was outlawed
in the 1970s."
-
- The list of U.S. corporations listed in Iraq's report
include Hewlett Packard, DuPont, Honeywell, Rockwell, Tectronics, Bechtel,
International Computer Systems, Unisys, Sperry and TI Coating.
-
- Zumach also said the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense,
Commerce, and Agriculture quietly helped arm Iraq. U.S. government nuclear
weapons laboratories Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia trained
traveling Iraqi nuclear scientists and gave non-fissile material for construction
of a nuclear bomb.
-
- "There has never been this kind of comprehensive
layout and listing like we have now in the Iraqi report to the Security
Council so this is quite new and this is especially new for the U.S. involvement,
which has been even more suppressed in the public domain and the U.S. population,"
Zumach said.
-
- The names of companies were supposed to be top secret.
Two weeks ago Iraq provided two copies of its full 12,000-page report,
one to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Geneva, and one to the
United Nations in New York. Zumach said the U.S. broke an agreement of
the Security Council and blackmailed Colombia, which at the time was presiding
over the Council, to take possession of the UN's only copy. The U.S. then
proceeded to make copies of the report for the other four permanent Security
Council nations, Britain, France, Russia and China. Only yesterday did
the remaining members of the Security Council receive their copies. By
then, all references to foreign companies had been removed.
-
- According to Zumach, only Germany had more business ties
to Iraq than the U.S. As many as 80 German companies are also listed in
Iraq's report. The paper reported that some German companies continued
to do business with Iraq until last year.
-
- http://www.democracynow.org
-
- December 18, 2002
- on Democracy NOW!
-
- http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow/dn20021218.html
-
- Story: TOP SECRET IRAQ WEAPONS REPORT SAYS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
& CORPORATIONS HELPED TO ILLEGALLY ARM IRAQ WE TALK WITH THE GERMAN
REPORTER WHO OBTAINED LEAKED PORTIONS OF THE UNEDITED REPORT THAT NAMES
HEWLETT PACKARD, DUPONT AND BECHTEL & 20 OTHER U.S. COMPANIES AS WELL
AS LOS ALAMOS AND LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORIES AND THE DEPARTMENT
OF ENERGY.
-
- A German newspaper has obtained portions of Iraq's top
secret weapons report that reveals at least 24 U.S. corporations as well
as four agencies of the U.S. government illegally helped Iraq build its
biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs.
-
- Some of the corporations include Hewlett Packard, DuPont,
Honeywell, Rockwell, Tectronics, Bechtel, International Computer Systems,
Unisys, Sperry and TI Coating.
-
- The Berlin-based paper Die Tageszeitung also reports
the U.S. Department of Energy delivered essential non-fissile parts for
Baghdad's nuclear weapons program in the 1980s. The Departments of Agriculture,
Commerce and Defense also provided assistance.
-
- According to the paper, only one country had more business
ties to Iraq than the U.S. That was Germany. As many as 80 German companies
are also listed in Iraq's report. And the paper reported that some German
companies continued to do business with Iraq until last year.
-
- The list of companies who worked with Iraq was supposed
to be top secret. Iraq produced only two identical copies of its 12,000-page
report for international review. One went to the International Atomic Energy
Agency and one went to the United Nations. The Bush Administration quickly
took control of the UN version, and made unedited copies for the other
permanent members of the Security Council, Britain, France, Russia and
China. The U.S. then made edited copies, which deleted all reference to
nuclear weapons production and all mentions of international corporations.
This was the report that the world was supposed to see.
-
- But the German paper obtained several hundred pages of
unedited text and began publishing articles based on the leaked documents
yesterday. We're joined right now from Geneva by Andreas Zumach, the journalist
who broke the story for Die Tageszeitung.
-
- http://www.democracynow.org/
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