Kathy and Momma Bear were on this a couple days ago...
The sources of Saddam Hussein’s illegal stores of weapons are being tracked by U.S. investigators, who say a father and son with California ties are the first people to be charged as illicit suppliers. A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday charged Sabri Yakou, 69, and Regard Yakou, 43, with arranging a scheme for Iraq to obtain sophisticated patrol boats in violation of U.S. and United Nations embargoes. Authorities say the charges are only the first to result from some 30 investigations into methods used by the former Iraqi government to circumvent arms embargoes to obtain conventional weapons, supplies and military technology.
| Inconvenient, when we've got the goods from the other end. Wonder how many people are sweating at the moment? |
Michael J. Garcia, chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the goal is to "peel back the layers of Saddam’s covert weapons procurement network and track down his suppliers." Customs and Defense Department agents have uncovered a wealth of information about Iraq’s attempts to purchase U.S. arms and technology through interviews with former Iraqi military officers, ministers and Baath Party officials. Iraqi documents and the serial numbers on weapons and parts also provided important leads, officials said. The investigation has led agents to the locations of 75 missiles in various parts of Iraq, officials said.
| Once the goods are got, you're stuck... |
In the Yakous case, the government charged the father and son with engineering a plan to provide Iraq with the components to build high-speed patrol boats before the U.S.-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein. Although three of the boats were deployed to the Basra region in southern Iraq, U.S. officials could not say if they were used in combat.
| Doesn't matter. They could have been. |
Sabri Yakou, an Iraqi native who is now a legal U.S. resident, appeared before a federal magistrate Wednesday on charges of violating U.S. arms control laws. He was arrested Tuesday at Washington’s Reagan National Airport after arriving on a flight from Bangkok, Thailand.
| Bangkok keeps showing up as a hub. It looks like there's still a lot of work to be done there... |
U.S. Magistrate Deborah Robinson released Yakou to the custody of a family member living in the Washington area and ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring device.
| How long before he flits to Riyadh or Damascus, while the monitoring device is still hanging on the bed post? |
His son, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested Saturday in Baghdad on similar charges and will be brought to the United States as soon as possible. A Customs affidavit describes Regard Yakou as his father’s "chief deputy" in the deal. Each man faces up to 10 years in prison and $1 million in fines if convicted.
| A firing squad would be appropriate. After the next 9-11-style attack, or the one after that, guys like them will get it... |
U.S. Attorney Roscoe C. Howard Jr. said the charges are "a testament of our commitment to fight terrorism on many levels."
| It's a testament to what can be done with a treasure trove of the enemy's secret documents... |
The Yakous carried business cards listing an address in Danville, Calif., and another in Singapore. They have homes in San Diego and the son also has a residence in Walnut Creek, Calif., while the father also has a home in Baghdad, according to court documents. Sabri Yakou heads a company called P.T. Gulf International, which U.S. officials say was to be paid $11 million for acting as the middleman in construction of the patrol boats by an Iraqi-run company. A document written by Sabri Yakou to Iraqi military officials, and dated Nov. 14, 2000, demonstrated his desire to help Iraq circumvent international arms and technology embargoes, according to the U.S. government. "My main goal was (and there should be no doubt about this) to serve this nation which is dear and loved by me and to transfer new industry (new technology) and train the Iraqi work force in this new technology," said the document.
| "I am living in this country, enjoying its wealth and freedom, and my son is a naturalized citizen. Of course I'm willing to sell it out." |
The Customs affidavit said the deal involved providing the Iraqi navy with six patrol boats — armed with machine guns and heavier deck guns — that could be used in coastal waters and in the open ocean. A contract between Sabri Yakou’s company and the Iraqi company was signed April 29, 2002.
Raw materials for the boats were obtained from a Malaysian company, with electronics purchased in Singapore and the engines obtained from Germany, the affidavit said. This made the origin of the boats more difficult to trace. Sabri Yakou told officials that only three of the boats were built in Iraq before the Saddam’s government fell and that he was still owed about $3 million for the unfinished ones, which are still in Baghdad. The affidavit says that the Yakous, in a taped interview with ICE agents, attributed the delays in completing the boats to the embargoes that required materials to be shipped through Jordan.
They ought to be able to get one to cop a plea. I’m sure that tracking these patrol boats through the supply chain will lead to other discoveries. |