Posted on 09/22/2007 5:07:07 AM PDT by decimon
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.
A spokeswoman for Blackwater did not return calls seeking comment Friday. The U.S. attorney for the eastern district of North Carolina, George Holding, declined to comment, as did Pentagon and State Department spokesmen.
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.
“The other two, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy, are based in Washington’s northern Virginias suburbs, outside the jurisdiction of the North Carolina’s attorneys.”
Bet they’re breathing a sigh of relief...until VA’s DA jumps on this cash cow. ;)
seems I remember something about 200K+ AK-47’s being lost at one time
They get paid well enough. I guess they just got greedy for more.
“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.”
Please...no Waxman pictures...his words and actions are disgusting enough!
The state department uses Blackwater so they do not have to be escorted by Marines. There is a lot of politics in these stories. IMO non covert state department and the CIA should use the military.
Innocent until proven guilty only applies to Dims.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Interesting that they try to make it sound like Khrongard
first brought it to light when it was really the Waxman.
Amen.
A good rule of thumb is that if a thing can be done then someone is doing it.
Blackwater, and others, just show up, cut them a check and you own them 24/7/365. When you are done, away the go. No politics, no hissy fits, no what G rank are you and do you know who I am happyBS.
This is why more and more work everywhere, save government, is being ‘sub’ed’ out. Because of the administration featherbedding mindset that has infected 2/3 of our population.
The state department employees may not be as safe when their protectors have a strict RoE policy.
I try not to think of how many of our guys are in harm's way or worse due to a PC RoE.
at the end of the day I suspect you will find some individuals found a loop hole in the logistical controls and voila!!!
doubt seriously any corporate part -
Only problem w Blackwater is that when govt outsources...they spend more money on the outsourcing than if they hired from within.
Now, I am not against a greater Kurdish homeland...I could care less what Turkey and Iran thinks. Too much appeasement of America-haters and globalists makes this story an issue.
“when govt outsources...they spend more money on the outsourcing than if they hired from within.”
No, when gov’t outsources they fail to terminate the folks who were responsible for the activity that was outsourced.
There is almost NO function that cannot be done better by the private sector than government. We pay dearly for the few that must be done by government.
The rise of companies like Blackwater show that some military functions are done better by the private sector.
Iran Contras all over again. Dim are like Hyenas eating their own as soon as they smell blood. bastards.
Blackwater is the new Haliburton.
If employees did this I hope they get nailed to the wall. The company really has struggled with the malfeasance of its people and really is evidence of why I want a larger military. I wish we didn’t have to outsource a lot of the work. It also isn’t at all fair that these guys get their pay essentially from the US government but make so much more than real soldiers.
What if there are among these contractors some who will sell armaments without knowing where those arms will end up? Wouldn't want those armaments in the hands of Al Qaeda, would we?
It would be nice if the FEDS would investigate Reid, Murtha and other DEM crooks as well as these conservative companies and politicians.
In Vietnam there was a thriving black market in military stuff. Mostly fatigues, boots and such. Lots of military people made lots of money on lots of deals. Happens in every war.
Yes, it would. But remember that they are all FEDS.
responsibility of corporate not to hire such individuals
I know, having done a lot of professional hiring in years gone by, with privacy matters what they are these days, it is difficult to get a good read on people. Background checks aren’t that accurate and what’s on paper doesn’t reveal what’s in the heart.
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