Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations

[marmar]

from the NY Times, via Truthout:


Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations
By James Glanz and Eric Schmitt
The New York Times

Tuesday 28 August 2007

Baghdad - 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 materiel 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 inquiry has already led to several indictments of Americans, with more expected, the officials said. One of the investigations involves a senior American officer who worked closely with Gen. David H. Petraeus in setting up the logistics operation to supply the Iraqi forces when General Petraeus was in charge of training and equipping those forces in 2004 and 2005, American officials said Monday.

There is no indication that investigators have uncovered any wrongdoing by General Petraeus, the commander of United States forces in Iraq, who through a spokesman declined comment on any legal proceedings.

This article is based on interviews with more than a dozen federal investigators, Congressional, law enforcement and military officials, and specialists in contracting and logistics, in Iraq and Washington, who have direct knowledge of the inquiries. Many spoke on condition of anonymity because there are continuing criminal investigations.

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. ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082807J.shtml

[MISSDem]

1. I wonder if this is connected to the "whistleblower" story that

was in the newspaper last Sunday. It was about the two men who turned in some people for fraud and themselves ended up being held in prison in Iraq. It was an almost unbelievable story about what the military had done when these men reported the crimes. The two victims are now involved in a law suit in Chicago over all of this.