Companies in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen helped Saddam aquired prohibited items through deceptive trade practices, the report by Charles Duelfer said.

"In the case of Syria and Yemen, this included support from agencies or personnel within the government itself," he said.

Russian engineers assisted with the development of a new missile, and documents indicate liquid propellant engines for it were imported from Poland and possibly Russia or Belarus, according to the report.

The report said Saddam raised 7.5 billion dollars through government-to-government agreements, another two billion dollars from kickbacks or surcharges associated with the UN's oil-for-food program, and another 990 million dollars from "cash sales" of oil.

"Under Saddam's orders, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) formulated and implemented a strategy aimed at these UNSC members and international public opinion with the purpose of ending UN sanctions and undermining its subsquent OFF (oil-for-food) program by diplomatic and economic means," the report said.

"At a minimum, Saddam wanted to divide the five permanent members and foment international public support for Iraq at the UN and throughout the world by a savvy public relations campaign and an extensive diplomatic effort," it said.

Government-to-government trade agreements, oil smuggling and the manipulation of oil-for-food contracts enabled Saddam to begin reconstituting his military in the period from 1997 to 2001, it said.

Saddam personnally approved who would get vouchers to lift Iraq oil that was distributed through the UN oil-for-food program, it said.

"He made all modifications to the list, adding or deleting names at will," it said.

The report said the clandestine procurement effort was directed mainly at conventional arms, dual-use goods and some programs related to weapons of mass destruction.

Iraqi front companies, some with close ties to high-ranking foreign government officials, were set up abroad, it said.

The most sensitive procurements were made by the Iraqi intelligence services, which used its representatives at embassies abroad to arrange for imports of illicit goods through Syria, Jordan, Belarus and Turkey.

Procurements for its missile programs, in particular, expanded in 1998 after the departure of UN inspectors, according to the report.

The Iraq Survey Group, the US-led team hunting for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, uncovered evidence that Russian technicians and engineers reviewed its long-range ballistic missile designs and assisted with the development of a new Al Samoud II missile.

It also found that Iraq entered into negotiations with North Korea and Russian entities for more capable missile systems, the report said.

"According to contract information exploited by ISG, Iraq imported at least 380 SA-2/Volga liquid-propellant enginees from Poland and possibly Russia or Belarus," the report said.

"Iraq also imported missile guidance and control systems from entities in countries like Belarus, Russia and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY,)" it said.

The State Department on Tuesday briefed diplomats from countries named in the report.

Adam Ereli would not give details of the conversations but a senior State Department official said the briefings involved information in the report detailing pre-war contacts between Iraq and foreign companies related to attempts to thwart UN sanctions.

"There are a lot of active members of the Security Council (who were) actively violating the resolutions that they passed," said a US official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.