SARKIS G. SOGHANALIAN, ARMS DEALER DUBBED ‘MERCHANT OF DEATH,’ DIES AT 82
By T. Rees Shapiro
Washington Post
Oct 11 2011
Sarkis G. Soghanalian, 82, an international arms dealer known as “the
merchant of death” who sold French howitzers to Saddam Hussein and a
U.S. cargo plane to Moammar Gaddafi, and who also provided his unique
services to the CIA and FBI, died Oct. 5 at a hospital in Hialeah, Fla.
He reportedly suffered from heart disease; his death was confirmed
by his former lawyer, Mark Geragos.
Mr. Soghanalian had a gargantuan presence in the multibillion-dollar
arms market, both because of his heft – he weighed 300 pounds –
and because of his seemingly limitless abilities.
He moved about the world with near impunity because of his cozy
relationship with the U.S. government and its allies. He once dined
at the White House with President Jimmy Carter.
Although he was a felon several times over, no conviction kept Mr.
Soghanalian locked up for long. Geragos confirmed that Mr.
Soghanalian’s clients included the National Security Agency and the
U.S. Secret Service.
The longest stint Mr. Soghanalian served in prison was less than
two years – and even then he was “released under very secretive
circumstances” in the mid-1990s, Geragos said.
Mr. Soghanalian often said the key to his success was discretion
and efficiency. From his Miami-based office, he could procure tens
of thousands of AK-47 rifles, ammunition by the ton and missiles by
the pallet.
He considered himself a fastidious businessman and required proof
of his deadly wares’ delivery. Once, from Lebanese rebel fighters,
he reportedly accepted human ears floating in jars of formaldehyde
for assurance.
In addition to being an arms dealer, Mr. Soghanalian allowed the U.S
government use of his jet fleet. He provided the CIA with chartered
flights with no questions asked and once flew an American physician
to Iraq to examine Hussein’s bad back.
For his allegiance, Mr. Soghanalian was awarded lucrative contracts
with the United States and allied countries. At his peak, he earned
more than $12 million a year.
With such fortune came notoriety, and Mr. Soghanalian was eventually
dubbed “the merchant of death.” It was a moniker he nonchalantly
dismissed.
“I know deep in my heart I’m not doing anything wrong,” he told
the PBS program “Frontline” in 2001. “Alfred Nobel was called ‘the
merchant of death’ when he first made gunpowder, and then they named
it the Nobel Prize.”
Sarkis Garabet Soghanalian was born Feb. 6, 1929, in what used to be
Iskenderun, Syria, and which is now part of Turkey.
To escape persecution, his ethnic Armenian family fled to Lebanon,
where, as a teenager, he served in the French army during World War II.
After developing a fascination with weapons as a mechanic in a tank
division, he decided to pursue a career in the arms business. He
sold Jeeps and Land Rovers throughout the Middle East before moving
up to tanks.
He began working for the U.S. government in the mid-1970s. With the
outbreak of civil war in Lebanon, the CIA paid Mr. Soghanalian to
arm Christian militia fighters with surplus Kalashnikov rifles from
the Soviet Union. In return, the Palestine Liberation Organization
placed a bounty on his head.
Word of Mr. Soghanalian’s smooth operation led him to do transactions
with Gaddafi and to become Hussein’s main weapons supplier in the
1980s during the Iran-Iraq war. With tacit approval from the United
States, Mr. Soghanalian circumvented a U.N. arms embargo and sold
Hussein $1.6 billion in weapons, including advanced French artillery
and U.S. helicopters.
After the Persian Gulf War, Mr. Soghanalian learned that yesterday’s
friend could become today’s enemy. In the early 1990s, he was convicted
in a U.S. District Court in Miami of conspiring to sell 103 helicopters
to Iraq during its war with Iran. He was sentenced to six years in
prison but was released early for helping to dismantle a counterfeiting
operation that was pumping nearly perfect $100 bills into Lebanon.
Mr. Soghanalian said that he preferred to work with U.S. partners
and that he attempted to ensure that his weapons did not reach the
hands of rogues and tyrants – ultimately to little success. An Exocet
anti-ship missile that he sold to Argentina’s military junta sank
the Royal Navy’s HMS Sheffield in the Falklands War.
His marriage to Shirley Soghanalian ended in divorce. Survivors
include two children.
Occasionally, Mr. Soghanalian used his extensive resources for good
will. He sent 26 planes to airlift relief supplies to the Soviet Union
in 1988 when an earthquake killed about 55,000 people and left more
than 750,000 homeless, many of them Armenians.
For his humanitarian efforts, President George H.W. Bush said that Mr.
Soghanalian “strengthened the ties that unite mankind.” In a letter,
Mother Teresa wrote that God would reward the benevolence of Mr.
Soghanalian and his family “a hundredfold.”