pentagon secretly shipping arms -

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HG27Aa01.html

Shady dealers aim to arm Iraq

-snip-


The US government arranged for delivery of at least 200,000 Kalashnikov machine-guns, together with tens of millions of rounds of ammunition, from Bosnia to Iraq in 2004-05, according to a report by Amnesty International, which investigated the sales. But though the weaponry was said to be for arming the fledgling Iraqi military, there is no evidence the guns reached their intended recipient.

The US and local authorities in Iraq and Bosnia when questioned could not or would not account for the deliveries and denied all knowledge of any weapons purchases from Bosnia.

-snip-

The Pentagon commissioned the US security firms Taos and CACI, known for their involvement in the Abu Ghraib prison controversy in Iraq, to orchestrate the arms purchases and shipments. They, in turn, subcontracted to a welter of firms, brokers and shippers, involving businesses based in Britain, Switzerland, Croatia, Moldova and Bosnia.

The Amnesty report, "Dead on Time - Arms Transportation, Brokering and the Threat to Human Rights", found that the weapons and ammunition were "reportedly shipped - clandestinely and without public oversight - to Iraq by a chain of private brokers and transport contractors under the auspices of the US Department of Defense between July 31, 2004, and June 31, 2005".

-snip- much more
--------------------------------------

your tax dollars secretly at work

[acmavm]

1. These are the most amoral corrupt specimens of protoplasm

that ever oozed their way around the planet Earth.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Wow.

But though the weaponry was said to be for arming the fledgling Iraqi military, there is no evidence the guns reached their intended recipient.

So where DID they go?

Were we arming the enemy in order to justify a larger military presence? Is that just too nuts to contemplate? Was there some other destination? Who might we have wanted to arm under the table--with AK's which are weapons that would not readily be identified as coming from us?

[mike_c]

4. it wouldn't surprise me....

The U.S. worked for decades to prolong the cold war with the Soviet Union in order to justify huge investments-- and profits-- in the military industrial complex. Prolonging the occupation of Iraq by fostering civil war and sectarian conflict is small potatoes by U.S. foreign policy standards.

[On the Road]

5. There are Claims that the Bolsheviks

received backing from US industrialists for similar reasons. Don't know what to make of them, but there have been some very callous calculating people in high positions.

[babylonsister]

3. Christ, so we're arming the insurgents responsible for killing

Americans? Can that be?

[JuniperLea]

6. Anything can be with this bunch of evil warmongers

They have done all they can to go to war and keep it going. The profit made makes it all the more vile and disgusting.

There were no WMD, and hell, it looks as though there weren't enough guns either.

[butterfly77]

9. This is why we have terrorist now

[gratuitous]

10. How could it be? Well, we don't know for sure . . .

But wouldn't it be nice if some governmental body thought to look into this? An agency that, I dunno, included some directly elected representatives of the people? Is there any group like that in Washington DC? That could, you know, convene hearings, issue subpoenas, and compel some testimony so we could find out for sure?

If we just had something like that, I'll bet we could get some answers.

[babylonsister]

11. Directly elected reps? Surely you jest! This story

upsets me greatly, especially because if it's true, where's the outrage?

[Jackpine Radical]

12. Well, of course there is no such group. What a primitive idea.

Everybody knows that elections have become automated, and politicians are elected by voting machines, not voting people.

[babylonsister]

7. Kick because I can't stop thinking about this story. nt

[w8liftinglady]

8. so many expletives beg to be printed.I hate these amoral bastards.

[leesa]

13. Well cripes, you can't keep a war going for 30 or more years if you don't

keep both sides armed! Where's your head, man! We got our economy to keep afloat. That's what these bogus wars are all about after all.