Firm Guilty Of Selling Bomb Parts To Iraq

One of the nation’s major defense contractors pleaded guilty Thursday to criminal conspiracy charges stemming from its illicit sale of cluster bomb components to Iraq during the 1980’s, the U.S. district attorney in Miami announced.

Teledyne Industries, Inc. agreed to pay $13 million in fines and administrative fees. It admitted in a plea agreement with the government that between 1982 and 1989 it shipped more than 120 tons of zirconium to Carlos Cardoen, a Chilean arms manufacturer. Cardoen in turned packed them in thousands of cluster bombs he sold to Iraq.

The case had attracted particular attention because Teledyne initially claimed the government had approved the shipments as part of a covert effort to support Iraq during its eight-year war with Iran. But in Thursday’s plea, Teledyne withdrew that claim and admitted the exports were not approved, but were done “in an effort to secure profits.”