| Submit your comments on this article |
| Fifth Column |
| Pentagon Parts Finding Their Way to Iran |
| 2007-01-22 |
| WaPo Flovored. Fighter-jet parts and other sensitive U.S. military gear seized from front companies for Iran and brokers for China have been traced in criminal cases to a surprising source: the Pentagon. In one case, federal investigators said, contraband purchased in Defense Department surplus auctions was delivered to Iran, a country President Bush has branded part of an "axis of evil." Why is it important to get Bush's 'axis' statement in here? A top priority for Iran are parts for the F-14 fighter jet, which the United States allowed Tehran to buy in the 1970s. In that instance, a Pakistani arms broker convicted of exporting U.S. missile parts to Iran resumed business after his release from prison. He purchased Chinook helicopter engine parts for Iran from a U.S. company that had bought them in a Pentagon surplus sale. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents say those parts reached Iran. Sensitive military surplus items are supposed to be demilitarized or "de-milled" -- rendered useless for military purposes -- or, if auctioned, sold only to buyers who promise to obey U.S. arms embargoes, export controls and other laws. Yet the surplus sales can operate like a supermarket for arms dealers. "Right Item, Right Time, Right Place, Right Price, Every Time. Best Value Solutions for America's Warfighters," the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service says on its Web site, calling itself "the place to obtain original U.S. Government surplus property." Federal investigators are increasingly anxious that a top priority on Iran's shopping list is within its easy reach: parts for the precious fleet of F-14 Tomcat fighter jets the United States allowed Iran to buy in the 1970s when it was an ally. In one case, convicted middlemen for Iran bought Tomcat parts from the Defense Department's surplus division. Customs agents confiscated them and returned them to the Pentagon, which sold them again -- customs evidence tags still attached -- to another buyer, a suspected broker for Iran. "That would be evidence of a significant breakdown, in my view, in controls and processes," said Greg Kutz, the Government Accountability Office's head of special investigations. "It shouldn't happen the first time, let alone the second time." A Defense Department official, Frederick N. Baillie, said his Pentagon unit followed procedures. "The fact that those individuals chose to violate the law and the fact that the customs people caught them really indicates that the process is working," said Baillie, the Defense Logistics Agency's executive director of distribution and revitalization policy. "Customs is supposed to check all exports to make sure that all the appropriate certifications and licenses had been granted." |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #8 DRMO is required by law, passed by Congress, to get the best possible price for the surplus it sells. Congress created this mess with bills passed during the Clinton Administration to increase DRMO sales and revenues, to help pump up the "Peace Dividend". If Congress wished to, they could create a category of no-sales surplus that had to be scrapped in certified scrapyards : several cities do that with seized firearms from crimes. But, Congress is allowed to have their cake and eat it too : they can bitch at DOD for the sales and use it for political capital, without having to actually do anything about it. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-01-22 16:45 |
| #7 AND---make a profit, to boot. Just make the parts so they cannot fix them when they get wise to our nefarious commerce strategy. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-01-22 16:30 |
| #6 Sell Iran critical parts on the black market that are |
| Posted by: GK 2007-01-22 13:56 |
| #5 I'd run sensitive parts into a crusher before they left my control. Of the materiel or of the buyers? |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-01-22 13:00 |
| #4 There is no reason to sell F-14 specific surplus. The only other operator is Iran and that's where it will end up whether Bob or Babil buys it. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-01-22 12:29 |
| #3 Big problem here is DRMO trying to get as much money for these used parts as possible. Which means selling them more or less intact and counting on the "scrap dealers" to be honest. I'd run sensitive parts into a crusher before they left my control. |
| Posted by: Steve 2007-01-22 12:11 |
| #2 That's WaPo flavored. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-01-22 07:44 |
| #1 How about if they sell them to a guy named Bob, not a crazy eyed dude named Azim? Bob may just sell them for scrap like he is supposed to. |
| Posted by: Creath Flavins8042 2007-01-22 06:48 |