Economic warfare

Export embargoes

During the Iran-Iraq War, a number of countries, such as the United Kingdom, attempted to limit the war by banning exports on militarily signficant items. A country under such embargoes, however, may create extremely complex financial organizations to bypass the embargoes.

Export control measures to restrict the proliferation of certain weapons, such as the Missile Technology Control Regime and the Chemical Weapons Convention clearly interfere with the military economy of a country attempting to produce banned weapons. The situation can get very complex, however, when export restrictions on "dual use" technologies are considered: exports that have both peaceful and military applications.

There is little doubt that Iraq, in the 1980s and 1990s, did try to develop weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless, there can be oversimplifications in export controls. Especially with some of the chemical exports, there was little question of intention; thiodiglycol has dual uses in making ink and mustard gas. The quantities of thiodiglycol involved, would have kept all the bureaucrats of the world writing away for decades, had the application been for ink. Exports of microorganisms were more complex, since some with biological warfare potential also have legitimate use in human and veterinary medicine. The shipment, on August 31, 1987, to State Company for Drug Industries leads with Saccharomyces cerevesiae, which has great potential if a nation plans the production of offensive weapons using a fine Belgian-style ale.

Had Iraq planned to enter the export market in ale, however, denying it the appropriate yeast would be classical economic warfare, as opposed to counterproliferation.