Guardian - America a weapons supermarket for terrorists

[Yammitor]

America a weapons supermarket for terrorists, inquiry finds
Undercover inspectors manage to buy high-grade gear including nuclear triggers and evade export bans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/08/arms-trade-us-terrorists-nuclear
Monday 8 June 2009 11.48 BST

The US is a virtual supermarket for terrorists and foreign governments seeking high-end military technology, including components that can be used to build nuclear weapons and equip militants fighting US and British troops, the American government has found.

Over the past year, government investigators posing as private buyers purchased military-grade body armour, technology to stabilise and steer guided missiles, a device that can be used to detonate nuclear weapons, and other munitions through legal means in the US. They evaded export controls and posted dummy versions of the gear to countries known as trans-shipment points for terrorist groups and foreign governments seeking arms and weapons components.

The investigation shows lax sales restrictions and export controls could allow terrorists and hostile foreign governments to buy equipment to use against US and British troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries, US officials say. Foreign governments and terrorist groups have sought to purchase military technology from the US, according to officials, and in 2008 more than 145 people were charged with violating export control laws, with 43% of those attempting illegally to ship gear to Iran and China.

The private US companies that provided the equipment – in some cases from government surplus – said they were not required to check buyers' backgrounds or obtain government licences for the sales. The US commerce department found that the companies selling the equipment had not violated any laws or regulations. The problem, investigators said, was that sensitive military equipment barred from export was often legal to sell within the US, with little restriction, and buyers need only establish a plausible front company.

Gregory Kutz of the Government Accountability Office told a congressional panel: "The lack of legal restrictions over domestic sales of these items, combined with the difficulties associated with inspecting packages and individuals leaving the United States, results in a weak control environment that does not effectively prevent terrorists and agents of foreign governments from obtaining these sensitive items."

Annoyingly the companies and individuals involved are not named, nor is there a mention as to which countries have lax import / export controls that allow them to become trans-shipment points.
I can hazard a guess as to which countries and individuals have a large percentage involvement as they are exempt from scrutiny as they are agents for the larger players.

Funding both sides was the pattern of 20th century conflicts, no changes to the pattern this century, yet.
There can't be a phony war if no sheople turn up to fight.    Will a series of no shows by the sheople finally break the pattern ?? I hope so but I better not hold my breath.

Taliban using ammunition from Afghan army
Ammunition found on some dead Taliban fighters is identical to that handed out to Afghan security forces, an investigation has found.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/5355937/Taliban-using-ammunition-from-Afghan-army.html
4:47PM BST 20 May 2009
The finding has raised concern that arms given to the Afghan government by the West are finding their way into insurgents' arsenals.

Of 30 rifle magazines taken from dead fighters in eastern Afghanistan, at least 17 contained cartridges identical to those given to Afghan government forces by the US military.

There have been repeated concerns weapons and ammunition could be sold to insurgents by rogue officers in Afghanistan's poorly paid and notoriously corrupt police.

Earlier this year, the US congressional watchdog warned the 242,000 weapons shipped to Afghanistan in recent years "are at serious risk of theft or loss" because of inadequate records. The US Defence Department has full details of only a third of the weapons, the Government Accountability Office reported.

The New York Times examined ammunition captured last month by the US first battalion, 26th Infantry, during a night-time ambush in which 13 insurgents died in the Korangal Valley area near the Pakistan border.

Distinct manufacturers' markings on the widely used 7.62 ammunition showed 17 magazines had cartridges from either California-based Wolf Performance Ammunition or a former Czech government factory. Both suppliers now provide cartridges to the Afghan government and there is no suggestion the suppliers directly equip the insurgents.

James Bevan, an ammunition researcher for the Small Arms Survey, an independent research group in Geneva, said the similarities in manufacture and condition of the Taliban cartridges suggested they had come from government supplies.

He said interpreters, soldiers or police officers could have sold the cartridges for profit or through sympathy for the insurgents.

However a spokesman for the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, the American-led unit training and supplying Afghan forces, said while there was a possibility the ammunition had come from Afghan forces, it was impossible to confirm.

Lt Col Christian Kubik said ammunition could also have been seized by insurgents from overrun police stations or captured on the battlefield.

"We have not had any reports of ammunition being recovered that can be directly linked to us," he said.

He added: "Accountability of arms and weapons is a priority for us and we take it very seriously."