A good question, Ebbie. Probably the easiest was to find out would be to cantact the company in Germany and ask.
Another reason presents itself however. Since trade with Iraq was proscribed, the gas masks probably had to come in through another country rather than straight from Germany to Baghdad. In fact, they likely made several stops before arriving at their final destination.
A possible route might be Germany to Ireland (or any other English speaking country) to Turkey or Jordan and on to Iraq.
Illegal but common enough and not especially sinister.

troll