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Blackwater accused of smuggling arms

US Senator Byron Dorgan, right, references a quote about Blackwater on a chart at a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing entitled ``Abuses in Private Security and Reconstruction Contracting in Iraq: Ensuring Accountability, Protecting Whistleblowers,'' on Friday in Washington. PHOTO: AP

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled weapons into Iraq that might have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a US-designated terror organization, US officials said.

The US Attorney's Office in North Carolina, where Blackwater is based, is handling the investigation with help from auditors of the Defense and State departments who have concluded enough evidence exists to file charges, the officials said on Friday.

A federal prosecutor in North Carolina, George Holding, and a spokeswoman for Blackwater did not return calls seeking comment. Pentagon and State Department spokesmen declined comment.

Officials with knowledge of the case said it is active, although at an early stage. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, which has heightened since 11 Iraqis were killed last Sunday in a shooting involving Blackwater contractors protecting a US diplomatic convoy in Baghdad.

The officials could not say whether the investigation would result in indictments, how many Blackwater employees are involved or if the company itself, which has won hundreds of millions of dollars in government security contracts since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is under scrutiny.

In yesterday's editions, the News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, said two former Blackwater employees -- Kenneth Wayne Cashwell and William Ellsworth "Max" Grumiaux -- are cooperating with federal investigators.

Cashwell and Grumiaux pleaded guilty early this year 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. In their plea agreements, which call for a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a US$250,000 fine, the men agreed to testify in any future proceedings.

The News and Observer, citing unidentified sources, reported that the probe was looking at whether Blackwater had shipped unlicensed automatic weapons and military goods to Iraq.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered a review of security practices for US diplomats in Iraq following a deadly incident involving Blackwater USA guards of an embassy convoy.

Rice's announcement came as the US Embassy in Baghdad resumed limited diplomatic convoys under the protection of Blackwater outside the heavily fortified Green Zone after a suspension because of the weekend incident in that city.

Officials in Washington said the smuggling investigation grew from internal Pentagon and State Department inquiries into US weapons that had gone missing in Iraq. It gained steam after Turkish authorities protested to the US in July that they had seized US arms from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, rebels.

The Turks provided serial numbers of the weapons to US investigators, a Turkish official said.

The Pentagon said in late July that it was looking into the Turkish complaints and a US official said FBI agents had traveled to Turkey in recent months to look into cases of US weapons gone missing in Iraq.

Investigators are determining whether the alleged Blackwater weapons match those taken from the PKK.

The PKK, which is fighting for an independent Kurdistan, is banned in Turkey and is considered a "foreign terror organization" by the State Department.
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