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Iraq
Feds probe Blackwater arms smuggling, sale to PKK
2007-09-22
Remember those US weapons that went missing in Iraq?
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled into Iraq weapons that may have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, officials said Friday.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, N.C., is handling the investigation with help from Pentagon and State Department auditors, who have concluded there is enough evidence to file charges, the officials told The Associated Press. Blackwater is based in Moyock, N.C. Officials with knowledge of the case said it is active, although at an early stage. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, which has heightened since 11 Iraqis were killed Sunday in a shooting involving Blackwater contractors protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad.

The officials could not say whether the investigation would result in indictments, how many Blackwater employees are involved or if the company itself, which has won hundreds of millions of dollars in government security contracts since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is under scrutiny.
This would ruin them as a company.
In Saturday's editions, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that two former Blackwater employees — Kenneth Wayne Cashwell of Virginia Beach, Va., and William Ellsworth "Max" Grumiaux of Clemmons, N.C. — are cooperating with federal investigators.

Cashwell and Grumiaux pleaded guilty in early 2007 to possession of stolen firearms that had been shipped in interstate or foreign commerce, and aided and abetted another in doing so
Cashwell and Grumiaux pleaded guilty in early 2007 to possession of stolen firearms that had been shipped in interstate or foreign commerce, and aided and abetted another in doing so, according to court papers viewed by The Associated Press. In their plea agreements, which call for a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the men agreed to testify in any future proceedings.

Calls to defense attorneys were not immediately returned Friday evening, and calls to the telephone listings for both men also were not returned.

The News & Observer, citing unidentified sources, reported that the probe was looking at whether Blackwater had shipped unlicensed automatic weapons and military goods to Iraq without a license. The paper's report that the company itself was under investigation could not be confirmed by the AP.

According to officials in Washington, the investigation grew from internal Pentagon and State Department inquiries into U.S. weapons that had gone missing in Iraq. It gained steam after Turkish authorities protested to the U.S. in July that they had seized American arms from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, rebels. The Turks provided serial numbers of the weapons to U.S. investigators, said a Turkish official.

The Pentagon said in late July it was looking into the Turkish complaints and a U.S. official said FBI agents had traveled to Turkey in recent months to look into cases of missing U.S. weapons in Iraq. Investigators are determining whether the alleged Blackwater weapons match those taken from the PKK.

It was not clear if Blackwater employees suspected of selling to the black market knew the weapons they allegedly sold to middlemen might wind up with the PKK. If they did, possible charges against them could be more serious than theft or illegal weapons sales, officials said.
Posted by:lotp

#6  That's strange. One would think that they would have effective controls to prevent this.
Posted by: McZoid   2007-09-22 20:33  

#5  I seem to recall reading there were problems with Iraqi Army and Police recruits selling the weapons they'd been issued. Could there be a connection?
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-09-22 17:49  

#4  A little side business going on I bet, wihtout corporate involvment. And its entirely plausible that their middlemen told them it was for teh Pashmerga, and they then rerouted to the PKK. Asode from that, screw the Turks. They havent helped us, and have been more of a hinderence - starting back in the original invastion (one of the reasons we have had such a ahard tiem of it was the 4th ID was slated for the SUnni Triangle and was not allowed to enter via Turkey), and continuign with their racist supression of the Kurds. And now they are going Islamist. I'd arm the PKK and let them run wild in N Iran and E turkey, and remind the Turks that their actions (and inaction) have a price.

Posted by: OldSpook   2007-09-22 09:40  

#3  I smell a Turkish rat here. Blackwater may or may not have smuggled weapons in Iraq. But smuggling guns into Iraq wouldn't appear to be a high profit enterprise. For them then to end up in the hands of the PKK strikes me as unlikely.

The Turks have a history of manufactured incidents conveniently blamed on the Kurds. At a guess I'd say the Turks bought the weapons in Iraq. Shipped them back to Turkey amd then found them on Kurds.
Posted by: phil_b   2007-09-22 07:52  

#2  Not. Good. If convicted, this should end their work in Iraq and elsewhere.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-09-22 01:13  

#1  Force them to sell their equipment to our Military in Iraq, investigate them legally, Where is wackenhut?

If you cannot run an arms room, you cannot run security.
Posted by: newc   2007-09-22 01:00  

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