Syrian company was Iraq's top weapons source

A Syrian trading company smuggled weapons and military hardware to Saddam Hussain between 2000 and 2003, making it the main channel for illicit arms transfers to Iraq despite a stringent UN embargo, documents recovered in Iraq show.

The private company, called SES International Corp., is controlled by members of the Baath Party and Alawite clan. Syria's government allegedly assisted SES in importing at least one shipment destined for Iraq's military, the Iraqi documents indicate, and Western intelligence reports allege that senior Syrian officials were involved in other transfers.

Iraqi records show that SES signed more than 50 contracts to supply tens of millions of dollars' worth of arms and equipment to Iraq's military shortly before the US-led invasion in March.

They reveal Iraq's increasingly desperate search in at least a dozen countries for ballistic missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, spare parts for MiG fighter jets and battle tanks, gunpowder, radar systems, nerve-agent antidotes and more.

The Bush administration accused Damascus in March of sending night-vision goggles and other military equipment into Iraq, but US officials now say the White House was unaware of the extent of the illicit weapons traffic.

Other gaps in Washington's efforts to stem the flow of black-market wea-pons and missile technology to outlaw states emerg-ed this month when Libya revealed that it had procured medium-range missiles and prohibited nuclear technology despite US and UN sanctions.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry did not respond to numerous faxes and telephone calls asking for clarification of SES's activities. SES also has not responded to requests by the Los Angeles Times for an interview.

In an e-mail Monday, the company termed "false" any suggestion that it was involved in illicit trade but did not address any of the specific cases.

The White House previously accused Syria of sheltering fugitives from the ousted Iraqi regime, of letting militants cross into Iraq to attack coalition forces, and of refusing to release at least $250 million that Saddam's regime stashed in Syrian banks.

Files from the Baghdad office of Al Bashair Trading Co., the largest of Iraq's military procurement offices, provide no new evidence about chemical, biological or nuclear weapons in Iraq. And not every contract for conventional weapons was filled.

But the successful deals - such as the delivery of 1,000 heavy machine guns and as many as 20 million rounds of ammunition for assault rifles - helped Baghdad's ill-equipped army grow stronger before the war began in March. Some supplies may now be aiding the insurgency against the US-led occupation.

The files reviewed by the Times - about 800 pages of signed contracts, shipping manifests, export documents, bank deposits, minutes of meetings and more - offer a rare glimpse into the murky world of international arms smuggling and the ties between countries such as Syria and North Korea, which the administration calls "rogue states," and the ousted Iraqi regime.

The documents illustrate the clandestine networks and complex deceptions Iraq used to evade UN sanctions and scrutiny by US intelligence. Those include extensive use of front companies, sham contracts, phony export licenses, kickbacks and money-laundering schemes.

The Iraqi weapons files provide the first public evidence of the Syrian company's extensive arms trade with Saddam's regime.

Syria fought with the US-led coalition against Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War and had no known role supporting Iraq in the 1990s.

Neither SES nor any other Syrian company is listed in confidential UN records that identify more than 350 companies from 43 nations that UN inspectors suspect helped supply prohibited unconventional weapons material to Iraq prior to 1998.

© Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service