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THE ROVING EYE
The Mukhabarat's shopping
list
By Pepe Escobar
BAGHDAD
- While the buildup to the war on Iraq was convulsing
world capitals, world opinion and the United Nations,
the Mukhabarat - the feared Saddam Hussein secret
service machine - was still living in its own Thousand
and One Nights bubble.
This is what is revealed
by a document found by Asia Times Online, among other
files, in a nondescript, abandoned Mukhabarat safe house
in the Qadissiya district of the capital. Iraqis who
read it and translated it had no reason to doubt its
authenticity. The handwritten document details a series
of meetings between June 2002 and March 2003 (even when
war was already raging in Iraq), probably in the same
safehouse, involving Mukhabarat agents and
representatives of firms from many Arab countries but
also from France, Russia and the Netherlands. The
document should constitute additional proof that the
secret services indeed operated as a parallel state in
Iraq - way beyond the reach of United Nations sanctions
and trade embargo. All negotiations were secret. And
everything was paid in US dollars, cash.
All
manner of other secrets and not-such-secrets are to be
found in what remains of Baghdad. Detailed personal
files by Internal Security in Mukhabarat abandoned safe
houses in Karada. Compromising files at the torched and
looted Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Secret graves in the
al-Qarah cemetery of nearly 1,000 political prisoners
tortured and mostly hanged at Abu Ghraib prison. And in
the basement of another Mukhabarat safe house in Wahda,
after a poor torch job, an astonishing room brimming
with the latest high-tech surveillance equipment is
still practically intact. Possibly much of the equipment
was purchased following the meetings detailed at the
document found in Qadissiya.
From the Alwaeth
firm in Syria, the Mukhabarat negotiated to buy machines
to conceal fax numbers. They could be delivered in three
days. From an unnamed Egyptian firm, it wanted wireless
communication systems for buildings, at US$55,000, and a
more sophisticated system for $100,000. It also wanted
wireless systems from the Iraqi firm, al-Azhal. From an
unnamed corporation in Abu Dhabi, the Mukhabarat wanted
an array of goods: wireless systems; wireless pinhole
cameras with a maximum range of 100 meters (delivery in
one month); four-channel AV receivers; pen cameras with
a maximum range of 100 meters, connected to video,
recording audio and operating on 12V batteries; cameras
with a range of 1 kilometers, and upgraded with an outer
antenna for 3 kilometers; and night vision goggles with
a 1 kilometer range. The goggles could be the most
explosive item in the shopping list as Washington had
all but accused Syria of selling them to Iraq. According
to the document, the negotiations were actually
conducted with this unnamed Abu Dhabi corporation.
From the Dutch firm Haiman, and also from an
unnamed Lebanese firm, the Mukhabarat wanted spray to
detect fingerprints on paper and wood, and to detect
separate fingerprints from different people. Mukhabarat
agents questioned Haiman for any new technology and also
wanted to know the prices for card-operated security
systems.
From the French firm APX, the Mukhabarat
wanted to buy listening devices, portable satellites and
private security systems. The document states that the
Mukhabarat had "direct contacts with a minister in
France" who could help the negotiations. The document
also states the Mukhabarat desire of trying to improve
the security systems of Iraqi embassies around the
world. Thus the quest for sophisticated listening
devices; small microphones; telephone bugs; transmitter
pens; laser systems to check camera performance;
listening devices to monitor what happens inside a
building from the outside; hidden espionage cameras;
night cameras to identify people from a distance of 150
meters; and the smallest color cameras available on the
market. From the Alsalam company - country of origin
non-identified - the Mukhabarat was trying to buy video
cameras inside pens and made-in-Russia long-distance
cameras, with a range of 2 to 3 kilometers.
In
another meeting with an unidentified French firm, the
Mukhabarat wanted to purchase equipment to recognize
fingertips on glass and wood; machine guns disguised as
suitcases; and voice identifying systems that can be
matched with databases. It also wanted a spray to
identify fingerprints; laser tools to identify
fingerprints; a system to identify food poisoning (a key
Saddam Hussein obsession); tools to identify explosive
materials and give the exact distance between the target
and the explosives; and a robot to remove explosives.
From the al-Asriya firm - not identified as
Iraqi or foreign - the Mukhabarat wanted to buy three
different computer systems for $199,000 each (with a
discount, it could come to $130,000 each). The systems
are called Spread Spectrum (operating between 1,5 and 5
gigahertz). There was an explicit condition for the
purchase: the manager of the firm had to send Mukhabarat
agents for training out of Iraq - with specialists from
Lebanon. And all spare parts should be free. On this
particular negotiation, the Mukhabarat was dealing with
Muhamad Halewi, a doctor and manager of the Fica firm in
Baghdad. And it was also comparing prices with the Abu
Dhabi office of a firm called Teltec. The Mukhabarat
complains that the prices quoted by the Reeger company -
country of origin non-specified - are very high. The
document states that if they buy anything from Reeger,
training will have to be conducted in Malaysia.
The Mukhabarat was actively comparing prices
between Iraqi and Syrian firms. It was negotiating to
buy Toyota Camrys at $20,500 apiece and Mercedes sedans
for $55,000 apiece from the Aldahi dealership in
Baghdad, imported from a firm in the United Arab
Emirates. From the al-Azar firm, also in Baghdad, it
wanted Mercedes vans. From the Jawrah and Hensi
corporation in Syria, it received an assurance that the
cars could be delivered in two months. And it could also
buy on request air-conditioners, Hyundai elevators, copy
machines, Panasonic videos and TVs and paper shredders.
One thing is certain: not all Mukhabarat papers
were shredded as the Americans arrived at the gates of
Baghdad.
(©2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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