Blackwater Took Hundreds of Guns From U.S. Military, Afghan Police

[Donnachaidh]

Source: The Washington Independent

Senate Inquiry Shows Contractor Signed for Rifles Using 'South Park' Alias

Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee. On at least one occasion, an individual claiming to work for the company evidently signed for a weapons shipment using the name of a “South Park” cartoon character. And Blackwater has yet to return hundreds of the guns to the military.

A Blackwater subsidiary known as Paravant that until recently operated in Afghanistan acquired the weapons for its employees’ “personal use,” according to committee staffers, as did other non-Paravant employees of Blackwater. Yet contractors in Afghanistan are not permitted to operate weapons without explicit permission from U.S. Central Command, something Blackwater never obtained. A November 2008 email from a Paravant vice president named Brian McCracken, obtained by the committee, nevertheless reads: “We have not received formal permission from the Army to carry weapons yet but I will take my chances.”

As a result of Blackwater’s disregard for U.S. military restrictions on contractor firearms, four employees of Paravant — which held a subcontract from defense giant Raytheon to train Afghan soldiers — under the influence of alcohol opened fire on a car carrying four Afghan civilians on May 5, 2009, wounding two. That incident, occurring less than two years after Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, prompted the committee’s investigation.



Read more: http://washingtonindependent.com/77476/blackwater-the-senate-and-south-park

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more at the link --

[ezmerelda39]

1. Gift or theft?

Is there really any difference between supplying Xe with guns or having them steal guns from us? It still comes out of our pockets.

[Javaman]

7. Both...

they stole them and called them a gift.

[fascisthunter]

2. they have been stealing from Tax Payers for too Long Now

[pasto76]

3. thats the whole problem with the guys....

"ive been instructed by the people who are really in charge to not do X, but Im going to do it anyway"

its a cowboy attitude in a warzone. I also apply this view to "domestic militias". They want to be uber-kewl and run carrying guns and "killing terrorists", but they dont want to be subject to UCMJ, real military structure and discipline.

My experiences with contractors in Iraq are very much less than positive.

SGT PASTO

[Robb]

6. Yup. nt

[msongs]

4. lol war crimes R us - our government policies in action once again nt

[lib2DaBone]

5. I wonder where all the guns will turn up?

..In the Drug War along the Mexican border?

In the hands of DEA Agents? Or maybe on the streets of the inner-city? Got to keep the charade going...


The United States has more people in prison than any country in the world.. including Russia and China.

[Javaman]

8. Taliban...

if they taliban have better weapons, they can continue the fight. Continuing to fight means, blackwater gets more contracts. Black water gets more contracts so they can steal more weapons. They steal the weapons so they can give them to the taliban. etc etc etc...

perpetual war by high priced mercs who care nothing of the US.

[Blue_Tires]

12. homegrown red-state militias

what a bunch of murderous profiteering criminals -- even the mafia has some sense of honor... i hate that so many people locally actually try to defend these shits...

[Snazzy]

9. signed for by a Paravant/Blackwater employee named “Eric Cartman.”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/blackwater-in-kabul-or-eric-cartman-gets-an-ak-47/

[dipsydoodle]

10. Amateurs.

Should've used M. Mouse , Sunset Boulevard and then nobody would've been suspicious.

[buckrogers1965]

11. I hear the Iraqi black market pays top dollar

For weapons like this. I bet the supply Sergent that "lost" the weapons got a huge kick back too.

[dmr]

13. k&r

[Judi Lynn]

14. Blackwater workers took police assault rifles, hearing told

Blackwater workers took police assault rifles, hearing told
Employees of American defence contractor Blackwater took more than 500 assault rifles intended for Afghan police force

Daniel Nasaw in Washington guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 24 February 2010 19.03 GMT

Employees of American defence contractor Blackwater took more than 500 assault rifles that were intended for the Afghan police force and routinely carried weapons without permission, it emerged in a hearing of the Senate armed services committee today.

It also emerged that to shed its sullied reputation and win contracting business in Afghanistan, Blackwater created what one senator called a shell company. Senators said that company, Paravant, deceived US officials into thinking Blackwater was not involved even as it laid claim to Blackwater's past performance to establish a track record. "They made representations here that are wildly false," said Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat. "Everyone knew in the field it was Blackwater trying to get rid of a negative name."

Steven Ograyensek, a US army contracting officer who testified, said: "There is no indication that they were part of Blackwater."

Blackwater has come under intense scrutiny in recent years for its employees' involvement in a 2007 Baghdad shooting in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed, and other allegations. The company has since sought to rebrand itself as Xe, and in order to win the training contract in Afghanistan, created a firm called Paravant.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/24/blackwater-afghanistan-assault-rifles

[Hissyspit]

15. Blackwater Took Police Assault Rifles, Hearing Told (Levin: Misbehavior Turned Civilians to Taliban)

Source: Guardian UK

Blackwater workers took police assault rifles, hearing told

Daniel Nasaw
guardian.co.uk News Wed 24 Feb 2010 19:09

Employees of American defence contractor Blackwater took more than 500 assault rifles that were intended for the Afghan police force and routinely carried weapons without permission, it emerged in a hearing of the Senate armed services committee today.

It also emerged that to shed its sullied reputation and win contracting business in Afghanistan, Blackwater created what one senator called a shell company. Senators said that company, Paravant, deceived US officials into thinking Blackwater was not involved even as it laid claim to Blackwater's past performance to establish a track record. "They made representations here that are wildly false," said Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat. "Everyone knew in the field it was Blackwater trying to get rid of a negative name."

- snip -

Paravant represented itself as a separate company, even as the training personnel were aware they had been hired by Blackwater, according to witnesses and senators.

At the hearing today Levin warned that Afghan civilians did not distinguish between troops and contractors, and that when contractors misbehaved it turned the population against US forces and encouraged them to side with the Taliban.

Read more: http://m.guardian.co.uk/?id=102202&story=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/24/blackwater-afghanistan-assault-rifles

[truthisfreedom]

16. Right at the feet of bush and cheney.

100% to blame.

[bobthedrummer]

17. How Blackwater built morale: Strippers, prostitutes and murder (active GD thread started 2-17-10)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7732669

K&R.

[alstephenson]

18. This will be all over the MSM tonight, right???

:sarcasm:

[Turbineguy]

19. I'm beginning to realize

what Mr. Obama meant when he talked about moving forward.

[EFerrari]

20. Nobody is in control of these people and they're all over the world.

Not only in our two war zones (plus Pakistan). They're also said to be in Panama, Colombia and probably elsewhere in Latin America. I think I read they were somewhere in Africa as well.

[Turbineguy]

21. They'll probably have to come home.

It won't be long before banksters will need to surround themselves with heavily armed goons.

[EFerrari]

22. Worked in NOLA. n/t