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Arms Sales

Volume 178: debated on Monday 29 October 1990

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To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will obtain a copy for his departmental library of the videocassette and transcript of the BBC2 television programme, "Death on Delivery" on arms sales, broadcast in the "Open Space" series on 3 July.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what role the Defence Export Services Organisation has played in the sale of weaponry and military equipment to Iraq since May 1979.

The Defence Export Services Organisation, in all its assistance to industry, has scrupulously followed Government policy as it has developed in relation to military sales to Iraq. Prior to September 1980 all potential exports to Iraq were considered on a case-by-case basis. In September 1980, at the beginning of the Iran-Iraq conflict, all exports of lethal equipment to Iraq were prohibited. This prohibition was further developed in the guidelines announced on 29 October 1985, Official Report, column 450. In conformity with the United Nations resolution, all exports to Iraq, except for some medical and humanitarian exports, are now banned.