like no one would notice

Iraq arms contract misses deadline

None of the bidders competing for an already-delayed contract awarded this week to equip the new Iraqi army were able to meet the schedule set by U.S. military officials, according to a U.S. Army contracting document.

ANHAM Joint Venture of Vienna, which the Army on Tuesday announced won the contract with a bid of $259 million, is a reconstituted version of the group of companies that won the first round of bidding in January only to see the award cancelled and the contract rebid because of complaints about the bidding process.

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ANHAM is only slightly different from Nour USA Ltd., which led the group that first won the contract. It is made up of American International Services/Uni Trans of Reston; Nour; HAIFinance Corp. of Tyson's Corner; Arab Supply and Trading Co. (ASTRA), of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Munis Sukhtian Group of Amman, Jordan. Astra was not originally part of the Nour-led group.

A key ANHAM official, A. Huda Farouki, is a longtime friend of Ahmed Chalabi, the former Pentagon informant and Iraqi National Congress official whose offices were searched for evidence of espionage last week.