Blackwater and Gov't Entanglements

[Baba Ahmed]

http://www.news/yahoo.com/s/ap/20070...ackwater_probe

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - 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.

The U.S. attorney for the eastern district of North Carolina, George Holding, and a spokeswoman for Blackwater did not return calls seeking comment Friday. Pentagon and State Department spokesmen declined to comment.
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.

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, 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.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered a review of security practices for U.S. diplomats in Iraq following a deadly incident involving Blackwater USA guards protecting an embassy convoy. Rice's announcement came as the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad resumed limited diplomatic convoys under the protection of Blackwater outside the heavily fortified Green Zone after a suspension because of the weekend incident in that city.

In the United States, officials in Washington said the smuggling 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. The PKK, which is fighting for an independent Kurdistan, is banned in Turkey, which has a restive Kurdish population and is considered a "foreign terrorist organization" by the State Department. That designation bars U.S. citizens or those in U.S. jurisdictions from supporting the group in any way.

The North Carolina investigation was first brought to light by State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, who mentioned it, perhaps inadvertently, this week while denying he had improperly blocked fraud and corruption probes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Krongard was accused in a letter by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, of politically motivated malfeasance, including refusing to cooperate with an investigation into alleged weapons smuggling by a large, unidentified State Department contractor. In response, Krongard said in a written statement that he "made one of my best investigators available to help Assistant U.S. Attorneys in North Carolina in their investigation into alleged smuggling of weapons into Iraq by a contractor." His statement went further than Waxman's letter because it identified the state in which the investigation was taking place.

Blackwater is the biggest of the State Department's three private security contractors.

The other two, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy, are based in Washington's northern Virginias suburbs, outside the jurisdiction of the North Carolina's attorneys.
___
Associated Press writers Mike Baker in Raleigh and Desmond Butler and Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington contributed to this report.

[Gorilla]

the joys of privatized military forces. Corporate Armies really are a disturbing trend. Thanks for the article.

[robbboy2003]

Originally Posted by Gorilla

the joys of privatized military forces. Corporate Armies really are a disturbing trend. Thanks for the article.

Why are you disturbed by this?

There have been men doing this for ages.

[JABOOM]

It's disturbing because these are mass groups of brainwashed hitmen...

[robbboy2003]

Not saying that i don't disagree with ya brotha,but we have to to acknowledge the fact,that this group has been around a long time with,if not the country the leaders in DC blessings.

FYI, this is one of the known groups. Dare say there's plenty more way badder,or worse than blackwater. I mean both political parties have condoned and paid for security/slash killing services. Indeed, they want to take the stigma away from these groups by sanctioning torture throughout the military,because they think Americans are asleep. I don't know what,but they are trying. Peace!

[The Dragon]

I heard about this group just a few months ago. There is a book out about Blackwater. I heard they were mercenaries and anyone or nation can hire them to go to war, etc..

Like someone said. There are more of them of course, that we don't even know about. I'm surprised to hear about them in the news because they are supposed to be a private firm, and I thought open knowledge about them was hush, hush.

[Baba Ahmed]

Originally Posted by robbboy2003

Why are you disturbed by this?

There have been men doing this for ages.

Run it robbboy2003 RUNNNNNNNNNN IT! They're only acting as the always have.

Not always the case, but often we're "shocked" etc simply bcause we think they intend to act according to their high sound rhetoric written in such as The U.S. Constitution; The Bill of Rights; and such centuries old BS as "The Brotherhood of Man. Some of us forget that we were judged, ruled as 3/5 of a man. So obviously the rhetorical ethicals statements are to calm and keep us a "believing" opiated people! And how 'bout this one: the rule of law and not of men. Man they can run some silly sounding ish when compared to their actions!

Many of us have historical amnesia...

[Baba Ahmed]

Originally Posted by The Dragon

I heard about this group just a few months ago. There is a book out about Blackwater. I heard they were mercenaries and anyone or nation can hire them to go to war, etc..

Like someone said. There are more of them of course, that we don't even know about. I'm surprised to hear about them in the news because they are supposed to be a private firm, and I thought open knowledge about them was hush, hush.

hush, hush or busted wide openingly - they still operate. Arrogance is primed to make folk bold 'n bolder 'n the boldest when perceived power is their pillow and bed. Might be their sexual mates.... And who did Gen. President "Ike" Eisenhower warn the nation about?

A trinity of the government, the military, and private industry. He strongly alluded to a coming Facist's State. Were not the Gestapo and Brown Shirts governmental forces for Hitler? Need anymore examples, peep into pre-and during WWII and Italy's breaking away for the so-called Allies of some of their cousins.

[DBlack]

Originally Posted by robbboy2003

Why are you disturbed by this?

There have been men doing this for ages.

Actually that's not true. We have never used wholesale privatized mercernaries in a theater of war. We have used private security firms for small scale and precision targeted protection needs, but that's only as a supplement to primary military assets.

There are hundreds of such AMerican based mercenary firms in Iraq right now.
Our special forces ops groups have usually handled the high value targets here and abroad.

See Bush and his War architects new there was a military asset shortage. They also new that private military sector had a novel chance here to make hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Money for Blood is what these groups provide.

What Bush has allowed should be criminal. Did you also know that we withdrew from the International Criminal Courts under Bush? He did so because he new the Iraq war was internationally illegal and that mercernaries for hire was also illegal.

And what do you think this says to our soldiers that don't get to make 100-300 dollars and hour? These mercanary firms get to operate without accountability and have been responsible for hundreds of killings, most of which are undocumented.

You can't defend the indefensible.

[JABOOM]

Originally Posted by robbboy2003

Not saying that i don't disagree with ya brotha,but we have to to acknowledge the fact,that this group has been around a long time with,if not the country the leaders in DC blessings.

FYI, this is one of the known groups. Dare say there's plenty more way badder,or worse than blackwater. I mean both political parties have condoned and paid for security/slash killing services. Indeed, they want to take the stigma away from these groups by sanctioning torture throughout the military,because they think Americans are asleep. I don't know what,but they are trying. Peace!

I totally agree........we just have to make sure our forces are ready to deal with them as well

OOPS!!!! Did I say that out loud?
Well are you ready for possible civil war because one day I can bet that (with the present events) Martial Law is right around the corner.