Man who gave chemical weapons to Saddam linked to Dutch Intelligence

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"Frans Cornelis Adrianus van Anraat (born August 9, 1942 in Den Helder) is a Dutch businessman who is accused of selling raw materials for the production of chemical weapons to Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein.

During the 1970's Van Anraat worked at engineering companies in Italy, Switzerland and Singapore that were building chemical plants in Iraq. Having learned about the trade in chemicals, he founded his own company, "FCA Contractor", based in Bissone, Switzerland. From 1984 he alledgedly supplied thousands of tons of chemicals to Iraq. Among these chemicals were the essential raw materials for producing mustard gas and nerve gas. Both gasses were used during the Iran-Iraq war between 1980-1988 as well as during an attack the military carried out on Iraqi Kurds in 1988, in which some 5,000 people were killed.

After his arrest and release in Italy in 1989, Van Anraat fled to Iraq, where he lived for the next 14 years. When Saddams regime fell in 2003, Van Anraat returned to the Netherlands. He was arrested on December 6, 2004 for complicity to war crimes and genocide. On December 23, he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for war crimes, as the court argued the charges of genocide could not be substantiated. His case is also notable, because it established that the chemical bombings in North Iraq constituted genocide according to the Genocide Conventions.

Soon after his arrest, Dutch newspapers reported that Van Anraat had been an informer of the Dutch secret service AIVD."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_van_Anraat

Interesting notes about AIVD.

One of their activities includes "the use of foreign intelligence service liaisons (such as CIA personnel) that reside in the Netherlands under a diplomatic status (including full diplomatic immunity) to collect intelligence in excess of the AIVD's authority."

"Soon after the arrest of the Dutch businessman Frans van Anraat who has been selling raw materials for the production of chemical weapons to Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein, Dutch newspapers reported that Van Anraat had been an informer of the Dutch secret service AIVD and has enjoyed AIVD's protection.

...

The service's focus on leftist activism is legendary; leftist activists exhibit great measures of paranoia relating to the service's activities, whether real or imaginary. This focus on leftist, rather than right-wing or Islamic organizations is a legacy from the Cold War and historical threats posed by the Red Army Faction and such."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIVD

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1. Self-Kick