WASHINGTON, Feb 24: President George Bush's uncle, who serves on the board of a US defence contractor with over 100 million dollars in business in Iraq, recently cashed in on some of that lucrative work, a government filing showed on Wednesday.

William H.T. "Bucky" Bush exercised options on 8,438 shares worth about 450,000 dollars from a St Louis-based defence contractor, Engineered Support Systems (ESSI), according to a Jan 18 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Since 2000, the president's uncle has been on the board of ESSI, whose work for the U.S. military in Iraq ranges from providing special armor for vehicles to providing telecommunications satellite equipment. There is nothing illegal about exercising stock options, but Mr Bush's interest in a company with so much Iraq business is sure to evoke criticism from Democrats.

Members of the opposition party have long accused the Bush administration of handing out Iraq-related work to companies with close ties to the White House, such as Halliburton, the Texas company run by Vice President Dick Cheney from 1995-2000.

Dan Kreher, vice president of investor relations for ESSI, denied having a member of the Bush family on the board had helped his company get Iraq-related business. -Reuters