China:  U.S. Companies Settle Charges Over China’s Missile Program

Two U.S. companies, Boeing and Hughes Electronics, agreed yesterday to pay $32 million in fines to settle U.S. State Department charges that they illegally transferred sensitive space technologies to China that could have aided Beijing’s long-range missile development (see GSN, Jan. 3).

Under the settlement, the two companies will pay $20 million over the next seven years and allocate an additional $8 million to develop internal export control processes, according to the Washington Post.  They have also agreed to hire an outside special compliance officer.

State had charged that Hughes Electronics, which Boeing purchased in 2000, had illegally provided China with detailed rocketry briefings to aid Beijing in determining the causes of two failed space launches in 1995 and 1996 (see GSN, Jan. 2).  The U.S. companies had argued that their actions were governed at the time by Commerce Department regulations, which gave them more leeway in working with Chinese officials.  In the settlement, however, Boeing and Hughes Electronics admitted they were at fault — a key element, according to a State official.

In a joint statement, Boeing and Hughes Electronics acknowledged the “nature and seriousness of the offenses charged by the Department of State, including the harm such offenses could cause to the security and foreign policy interests of the United States” (Renae Merle, Washington Post, March 6).

U.S. Representatives Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) and Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), who headed a 1998 congressional committee that investigated the information transfers to China, praised the settlement today.

“This steep fine and sobering result is another reminder that effectively preventing weapons proliferation requires vigilant enforcement of export controls on military technology,” Cox and Dicks said in a joint statement (Jeff Gerth, New York Times, March 6).

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Iraq:  Baghdad Has Destroyed 34 al-Samoud 2 Missiles

Iraq today destroyed six prohibited al-Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the total of destroyed missiles to date to 34, an Iraqi official said (see GSN, March 5).  The missiles were destroyed at al-Taji air base, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, the official said (Reuters, March 6).

Yesterday, Iraq destroyed nine al-Samoud 2 missiles, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency press release.  Inspectors also observed the concrete casing of two destroyed casting chambers (IAEA release, March 5).

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Iraq:  Baghdad to Destroy Nine al-Samoud 2 Missiles Today

Iraq plans to destroy an additional nine banned al-Samoud 2 missiles today, according to Uday al-Ta'ae, a senior Iraqi Information Ministry official (see GSN, March 4; Reuters, March 5).

Iraq yesterday destroyed three al-Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the total to date to 19, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency press release.  Iraqi technicians also destroyed an al-Samoud 2 missile launcher, five missile engines and completed the destruction of a second casting chamber for al-Samoud 2 components (IAEA release, March 4).

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Iraq:  Baghdad Destroys 16 Al-Samoud 2 Missiles

Iraq yesterday destroyed six of its banned al-Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the total number of destroyed missiles since Saturday to 16, according to an International Atomic Energy press release (see GSN, March 3).  Iraqi technicians yesterday also completed the destruction of a casting chamber and began the destruction of a second chamber, scheduled to be completed today (IAEA release, March 3).

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Iraq:  Missile Destruction Begins, at Least Seven Planned for Today

Iraq is set to destroy at least seven of its banned al-Samoud 2 missiles today, bringing the total destroyed since Saturday to 17.  Iraqi officials warned, however, that the destruction effort could stop if the United States continues to press for war (see GSN, Feb. 28).

Iraq plans to destroy between seven and nine of the missiles today, said Odai al-Taie, an official in the Iraq Information Ministry (Bassem Mroue, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, March 3). 

Iraq destroyed six missiles yesterday in the presence of U.N. inspectors, in addition to four Saturday, said Iraqi presidential adviser Gen. Amir Saadi.  He added that Iraq hoped to continue that pace over the next several days.  Iraq has about 100 operational al-Samoud 2 missiles and another 20 in various stages of construction, Saadi said.  At the current rate of destruction, it should take about three weeks for Iraq to destroy all of the banned missiles, according to the Washington Post (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, March 3).

The missiles are being destroyed at the Taji military site, north of Baghdad, according to the Los Angeles Times.  Iraqi officials have refused to allow reporters to observe the destruction, saying pictures of the event would hurt many Iraqis personally.

Showing the missile destruction “would be in the interest of Iraq” to demonstrate its willingness to comply with U.N. orders, Saadi said.  “But from previous experience, we know such pictures would be painful to the Iraqi people,” he said.

Saadi warned, however, that Iraq could stop destroying the missiles if the United States continued to plan to invade without U.N. approval.

“If it turns out during an early stage this month that America is not going the legal way, then why should we continue?” he asked (Joyn Daniszewski, Los Angeles Times, March 3).

Iraq began the missile destruction effort on Saturday, when it destroyed the first group of four by crushing them with a bulldozer, according to the New York Times.  The United Nations would have preferred that the missiles were destroyed with explosives, but Iraq choose to crush them, said Demetrius Perricos, deputy U.N. weapons inspector. 

Iraq also began destroying Saturday one of the two casting chambers used to produce solid rocket propellant and engines for other short-range missiles, Perricos said.

“All the missiles that are presently deployed, all the missiles in a state where they are ready to be deployed and all the parts and components are also to be destroyed,” he said (Neil MacFarquahar, New York Times, March 2).

U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix Friday praised Iraq’s decision to abide by the U.N. order to destroy the al-Samoud 2 missiles, saying Iraq’s action represented “a very significant piece of real disarmament” (U.N. release, Feb. 28).

Iraqi Murder Mystery

Meanwhile, Western intelligence agencies are investigating claims that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the murder of a senior missile engineer to prevent him from speaking with U.N. inspectors, according to the London Telegraph.

Gen. Muhammad Sa’id al-Darraj, who led Iraq’s mobile Scud missile force until three months ago, died a day after meeting with Iraqi officials, according to Arab newspaper reports.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how al-Darraj would conceal what he knew of Iraq’s missile efforts if interviewed by inspectors, the Telegraph reported.

Al-Darraj reportedly told relatives that he had been given a poisoned drink during the meeting, which took place at one of Hussein’s presidential palaces, according to the Telegraph.

British officials said yesterday that they were attempting to verify the claim (Wastell/Coman, London Telegraph, March 2).

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