disrupter
09-22-2007, 12:38 PM
Feds target Blackwater in weapons probe
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press
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.
. . . .
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.
. . . .
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. . . . http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/ap_on_go_co/us_blackwater_probe;_ylt=ApxxNd_I7MVxTSywN6XaGcSs0 NUE
I guess there is a reason Petraeus never recorded serial numbers of weapons, so they would be difficult to trace smuggling them to terrorists.
These guys are nothing more than mercenaries & gangsters who are supporting terrorism,
& underwritten by the GOP party in Washington.
The GOP are sponsors of terrorism & traitors to the USA & Americans.
Your tax dollars & the ballooning deficit are being spent by the GOP traitors to foster & directly support known terrorists.
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press
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.
. . . .
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.
. . . .
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. . . . http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070922/ap_on_go_co/us_blackwater_probe;_ylt=ApxxNd_I7MVxTSywN6XaGcSs0 NUE
I guess there is a reason Petraeus never recorded serial numbers of weapons, so they would be difficult to trace smuggling them to terrorists.
These guys are nothing more than mercenaries & gangsters who are supporting terrorism,
& underwritten by the GOP party in Washington.
The GOP are sponsors of terrorism & traitors to the USA & Americans.
Your tax dollars & the ballooning deficit are being spent by the GOP traitors to foster & directly support known terrorists.