BERLIN - Iraq's arms report to the United Nations shows that more than 80 German companies have done business with Baghdad since the 1970s and that some have contravened a UN embargo, according to a German newspaper.
     In its Tuesday edition, the daily Tageszeitung said that the companies included public and private research laboratories and firms which supplied whole systems or components for weapons of mass destruction.
     Citing what it claimed were parts of the report, the newspaper said some of the 86 companies that had been doing business in Iraq since around 1975 had continued to do so at least up until 2001.
     A spokeswoman for the economy ministry said on Monday that the government had informed parliament in 1990 about materials being supplied to Iraq.
     An international embargo was imposed on Iraq in 1990 after it invaded Kuwait. The newspaper said the report also includes information about firms trading in electronics components which fall under the "dual use" category of materials that can be used for military or civilian purposes.
     Some German companies are already the subject of legal proceedings for their dealings with Baghdad. Two businessmen are to go on trial in Germany in January accused of supplying Iraq with equipment to build a long-range cannon capable of firing weapons of mass destruction.
     A 59-year-old man and his unidentified business partner are alleged to have bought cannon-drilling equipment -- used for drilling barrels for large guns -- from German companies.
    The total value of the equipment, said to have been delivered to Iraq between April 1999 and December 2000, is put at $255,000. He is also accused of offering to supply rocket-launchers, mortars and machine guns for $65,000.

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