Iran keeps F-14 fighters flying on the cheap

[formercia]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070116/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_surplus_stings

AP: Iran gets army gear in Pentagon sale

By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 13 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military has sold forbidden equipment at least a half-dozen times to middlemen for countries — including
Iran and China — who exploited security flaws in the Defense Department's surplus auctions. The sales include fighter jet parts and missile components.


In one case, federal investigators said, the contraband made it to Iran, a country
President Bush branded part of an "axis of evil."

In that instance, a Pakistani arms broker convicted of exporting U.S. missile parts to Iran resumed business after his release from prison. He purchased Chinook helicopter engine parts for Iran from a U.S. company that had bought them in a
Pentagon surplus sale. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, speaking on condition of anonymity, say those parts made it to Iran.

--snip--

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Makes sense to me.

If you supply your potential enemies with their weapons you know exactly what the capabilities of those weapons are. That's what made the soviets dangerous - their weapons were not built to our specs, so we couldn't know what they'd do. Probably why we've been mad at france for 40 years - too many customers for their Mirage jets.

We've got to make the world safe for American arms dealers.