NYT: Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations

[ProSense]

Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations

By JAMES GLANZ and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: August 28, 2007

BAGHDAD, Aug. 27 — Several federal agencies are investigating a widening network of criminal cases involving the purchase and delivery of billions of dollars of weapons, supplies and other matériel to Iraqi and American forces, according to American officials. The officials said it amounted to the largest ring of fraud and kickbacks uncovered in the conflict here, the officials said.

<...>

The inquiries are being pursued by the Army Criminal Investigation Command, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other agencies.

Over the past year, inquiries by federal oversight agencies have found serious discrepancies in military records of where thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces actually ended up. None of those agencies concluded that weapons found their way to insurgents or militias.

In their public reports, those agencies did not raise the possibility of criminal wrongdoing, and General Petraeus has said that the imperative to provide weapons to Iraqi security forces was more important than maintaining impeccable records.

In an interview on Aug. 18, General Petraeus said that with ill-equipped Iraqi security forces confronting soaring violence across the country in 2004 and 2005, he made a decision not to wait for formal tracking systems to be put in place before distributing the weapons.


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Guns, Money, Bad Guys And "Good" Guys

The Lucrative And Deadly Business of Missing US Arms

Edited to 3-4 paragraphs to conform to DU's policy concerning fair use of copyrighted material

Lithos
DU Moderator

[whistle]

1. Bullshit, private military services companies like Blackwater skimmed off

...the cream of these transactions and has been armed to the teeth by the Pentagon. Those are the bastards who will be coming to Amerika to fight and imprison anyone who resists the fascist takeover. In fact those weapons stocks never left this country and are in millions of square feet of warehouses and storage right here in Amerika just waiting to be used against all of us! :wtf:

[ProSense]

2. Stop tripping!

Like there can't be multiple crimes. Does anything about Iraq dealings appear normal to you?

[whistle]

3. Who else would our military sell weapons to, especially on the scale described

...this is not Little Big Horn and Winchester repeating rifles that we are dealing with here. These are military acquisition and distribution and logistics officers and personnel we are dealing with here and the process has been going on for four and a half years.

Who would receive such quantities of weapons? Certainly not Iraqi insurgents from a few low level ammunition truck drivers. This is organized crime on a massive scale that only the likes of a Halliburton could and would conduct!

[ProSense]

4. "Who else would our military sell weapons to"

What is the focus of the article? The sellers and bribes.

Halliburton is involved in a lot of shady activities in Iraq, but they are not the end all of criminal activity related to this war. They are also not the Petagon or U.S. military. Do you know if weapons are being sold to other countries?

What exactly are you complaining about? The investigation?

[kenny blankenship]

5. We should have a criminal investigation of the weapons THAT WERE NOT THERE

that was the crime that caused and encompasses all the subsequent crimes relating to our war against the people of Iraq.

[ProSense]

6. Look over there,

Senator Craig's two-month old lewd conduct charge. Can the media be this calculating? Why today? Unbelievable!

[LiberalAndProud]

7. Kick.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. ProSense, please be aware of the DU copyright rule

When quoting a copyrighted source, no more than 4 paragraphs should be used. People can read the rest by following the link. Thank you.

[ProSense]

9. Auditors Sent to Iraq to Probe Contracts

Auditors Sent to Iraq to Probe Contracts

By PAULINE JELINEK
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 28, 2007; 1:43 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is sending a team of investigators to Iraq because of the growing number of cases of fraud and other irregularities in contracts involving weapons and supplies for Iraqi forces.

<...>

There have been a growing number of cases involving not only weapons but contracts for a range of goods and services used in Iraq. As of last week, there were 73 criminal investigations into contracts in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, said Army spokesman Col. Dan Baggio. The Army is the contracting agent for all the military branches serving in the wars, he said.

<...>

In the most recent high-profile contract probe, the Government Accountability Office said last month that the Pentagon cannot fully account for $19.2 billion worth of equipment provided to Iraqi security forces.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said it had reviewed records of the U.S. unit running the program to train and equip Iraqi forces and couldn't account for what happened to least 190,000 weapons. U.S. officials, while acknowledging that some might have fallen into the hands of militants, said the majority of weapons went to Iraqi security forces but that records weren't property kept to show that.

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