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- THE WEEK, Page 18WORLDExtraordinary Stories
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- Government coaching on the Iraq embargo reddens faces in Whitehall
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- There's nothing like the publication of a cache of secret
- documents to kick up controversy. And the furor was substantial
- indeed when a court in London released memos and letters
- indicating that government officials were long aware that
- British companies were violating an embargo against shipping
- military equipment to Saddam Hussein's armies before the Gulf
- War. The documents were released when charges were dropped
- against three British businessmen accused of falsifying export
- papers for machine tools that could be used in the manufacture
- of artillery shells and fuses. The prosecution's case crumbled
- because Alan Clark, former Secretary of State for Trade and
- Industry, testified that he coached companies on how to get
- around the embargo.
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- British Prime Minister John Major scrambled to minimize
- damage to his government, which in recent weeks has suffered
- from a series of political embarrassments. Major appointed
- Justice Richard Scott to head an immediate inquiry into the
- affair. With considerable understatement, Major said, "There
- have been some extraordinary stories about this matter."
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