Here are some bizarre low lights on this issue of who is supplying the so
called Iraqi insurgents and our next war enemy Iran:
* "Roadside bombings of American troops in _Iraq_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html?inline=nyt
-geo) were occurring with unnerving regularity when military investigators
made a disturbing discovery: American-made computer circuits sold to a
trading company in the _United Arab Emirates_ (http:/
/topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/unitedarabemirates/index.html?inline=nyt-
geo) had turned up in the bomb detonators."
* " the Bush administration cited the diversion of the computer
circuits to _Iran_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html?inline=nyt-geo)
, and eventually Iraq, as proof that
the United Arab Emirates were failing to prevent American technology from
slipping into the wrong hands. Administration officials said aircraft parts,
specialized metals and gas detectors that have a potential military use had
also moved through Dubai, one of the emirates, to Iran, _Syria_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html?inli
ne=nyt-geo) or Pakistan."
* "Relations with the United Arab Emirates have long been delicate for
the United States. Dubai, for example, is the host for more Navy ships than
any port outside the United States and is an important listening post for
American intelligence personnel. .."
Given just these few points, can anyone answer these three questions
1. are we sure that the CIA or some other rogue element is not fostering
the mess in Iraq ?
2. why isn't the CIA and GAO and DOD stopping this NOW ?
3. and why exactly is our Vice President Dick Cheney building a Dacha in
Dubai and Halliburton HQ now located there - a nation without an extradition
treaty with the USA ? just a thought ....
Peace, Hugs, and Purrs,
Carolyn Rose Goyda
Missouri, USA
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
_U.S. Alarmed as Some Exports Veer Off Course - New York Times_
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/washington/02UAE.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)
WASHINGTON — Roadside bombings of American troops in _Iraq_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html?inline
=nyt-geo) were occurring with unnerving regularity when military
investigators made a disturbing discovery: American-made computer circuits
sold to a
trading company in the _United Arab Emirates_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/unitedarabemirates/index.html?inline=
nyt-geo) had turned up in the bomb detonators.
That finding set off a clash with Washington last year when the Bush
administration cited the diversion of the computer circuits to _Iran_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/index.html?inli
ne=nyt-geo) , and eventually Iraq, as proof that the United Arab Emirates
were failing to prevent American technology from slipping into the wrong
hands.
Administration officials said aircraft parts, specialized metals and gas
detectors that have a potential military use had also moved through Dubai, one
of the emirates, to Iran, _Syria_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html?inline=nyt-geo)
or Pakistan.
The diplomatic face-off, which drew little public attention, prompted the
United States to threaten tough new controls on exports to the United Arab
Emirates, an ally. The nation had invested billions to become a global trading
hub and had begun a campaign to burnish its image in the United States after
the
uproar in 2006 over a proposal to allow a Dubai company manage some American
port terminals.
The administration backed down only after the emirates promised to pass their
own export control law. But it is unclear that much has changed nearly a
year after the confrontation.
Yousef al-Otaiba, an adviser to the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates,
said his country was more closely monitoring goods that it re-exported while
blocking items that might help Iran build weapons systems. But trade experts
and Iranian traders in Dubai said there was little evidence that the new
export control law was being broadly enforced.
“It has virtually had no effect, to be honest,” said Nasser Hashempour,
deputy president of the Iranian Business Council in Dubai. “If someone wants to
move something — get it to Iran — it is easy to be done.”
Relations with the United Arab Emirates have long been delicate for the
United States. Dubai, for example, is the host for more Navy ships than any
port
outside the United States and is an important listening post for American
intelligence personnel. Emirates officials have complied with a Bush
administration request to inspect American-bound ship containers for nuclear
threats as
they move through Dubai.
But the country, which is made up of the emirates Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah,
Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Umm al Qaywayn and Ras al Khaymah, has deep economic and
cultural ties with Iran, which is only about 70 miles across the Persian Gulf
from Dubai. As many as 400,000 Iranians live in the emirates, many of them
traders who track down goods in the sprawling consumer bazaar of Dubai and
then re-export them to Iran, at times ignoring _United Nations_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html
?inline=nyt-org) trade sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program and a
broader United States embargo.
Emirates Blame U.S.
Nearly $12 billion worth of American goods flowed into the emirates in 2007.
Officials in the emirates say the United States — which prohibits American
companies from directly selling most goods to Iran and bars foreign companies
from reselling dual-use products there — has complicated efforts to follow the
rules.
The officials, with trade experts, blame America for overstating the
potential dangers of certain goods or passing on tips about illicit shipments
that
are inaccurate or too vague to act.
“They like to exaggerate, or at least try to point to some strategic
significance of the item, like saying, ‘This software program could be used to
design nuclear power plants,’ even if someone is just buying it to draw puppies
and flowers,” said Clif Burns, an export control lawyer at Powell Goldstein in
Washington.
American officials have been increasingly alarmed about trade in the United
Arab Emirates since 2002, when the Commerce Department sent an inspector, Mary
O’Brien, there. From her spot checks of factories, freight forwarders and
other companies that had ordered American products subject to export controls,
Commerce officials say, it was clear that dual-use goods, including computer
equipment, were being diverted on a grander scale than imagined.
An entity said to be a woodworking shop, for example, had ordered a
sophisticated American machine for making metal parts. The device, Ms. O’Brien
knew,
could also shape components for a missile system. The supposed factory
contained almost no sawdust, and the few employees could not explain how they
intended to use the machine.
“This is not right,” Ms. O’Brien said she had said to herself, convinced
that she had turned up her first “briefcase business”— open for inspection,
but
closed for good as soon as she walked out.
She pressed a Dubai pistachio wholesaler on why he had bought an American
infrared camera, which can detect living objects in the dark, and where it had
gone. Later she found he had arranged its return from Iran, where it had
apparently been diverted, while stalling a follow-up inspection.
In nearly 40 percent of her inspections in four years, she found that
regulated items were missing or that the recipient would not cooperate. Many of
those companies were placed on a list, warning American exporters to be careful
when selling to them.
“This was a huge sieve,” said Lisa A. Prager, a former top Commerce export
control official. “Almost nothing that said it was going to U.A.E. was staying
in U.A.E.”
* 1
* _2_
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/washington/02UAE.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1)
_Next Page »_
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/washington/02UAE.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1)
Nada El Sawy contributed reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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