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40 - EVENTS/INTELLIGENCE_SCANDALS/Project Babylon.md
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@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[The Washington Post]] reported, "has att
Asked on April 24 when ministers in the [[Department of Trade and Industry]] first learned of the Walter Somers order, the trade minister [[Alan Clark]] answered: "Earlier this month." On April 27 [[Gordon Brown]] asked the secretary of state, [[Nicholas Ridley]], when the department first saw the Sheffield Forgemasters contract, what checks were made of "the 44 items of piping now sent to Iraq," how often Walter Somers had itself come to the department about the order, and what was done when the firm reported that it had been approached "about aiming equipment." To each Ridley replied: "In the light of charges laid against an individual on 25 April, and in the light of the continuing investigation by [[HM Customs and Excise|Customs and Excise]], it would be inappropriate to give any further information." Thatcher, asked which departments had considered the order, said: "Export controls are administered by the Department of Trade and Industry who seek advice from the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] and other Departments as necessary." The [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]] minister [[William Waldegrave]] said on April 30: "We first became aware of Iraq's involvement with advanced ballistic missiles in 1987." The [[Trade and Industry Select Committee]] opened an inquiry.[^3]
At the trial of the [[Matrix Churchill]] directors in 1992 an officer of [[MI5]] confirmed that one of the firm's executives, [[Mark Gutteridge]], had reported to the service on Bull's company, and that "Gutteridge first told MI5 about Bull and his supergun in May 1988." The information "had been passed straight to the CIA." Matrix Churchill's Iraqi owner, the [[Technology Development Group]], "had a partnership with Dr. Gerald Bull's Space Research Corporation, and it financed purchases for Bull thanks to loans from BNL Atlanta." On February 6, 1990, six weeks before Bull was shot, the [[Central Bank of Iraq]] opened a credit of 2.9 million dollars through Space Research to a [[New Jersey]] fuse maker, Rexon. A customs investigator who had followed Bull and his British partner Allivane for three years said: "none of this could have been done without government approval."[^4]
The freelance journalist [[Jonathan Moyle]], who had been looking into Iraqi arms purchases in [[Chile]], was found dead in a [[Santiago]] hotel on March 31, 1990, nine days after Bull.[^2]
### Footnotes
@ -40,3 +42,4 @@ The freelance journalist [[Jonathan Moyle]], who had been looking into Iraqi arm
[^1]: "Briton Charged in Alleged Iraqi 'Super Gun' Project," *The Washington Post,* April 25, 1990.
[^2]: "Britain confirms pipes were for supergun," United Press International, April 18, 1990; "Two linked to Iraq gun affair freed on bail," United Press International, May 3, 1990; GlobalSecurity.org, "Space Research Corporation." On Moyle see the sources cited at [[Jonathan Moyle]].
[^3]: House of Commons, written answers, April 24, 27, and 30, 1990, *Hansard.* https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/1990/apr/27/iraq-arms-component-exports
[^4]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq*. Bantam, 1993, pp. 78-79, 116, 250.