Reply #3: US envoy in Chinese-made ammunition cover-up: report [View All]

[maddezmom]

US envoy in Chinese-made ammunition cover-up: report
7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A US ambassador helped conceal illegal Chinese origins of ammunition that a Pentagon contractor bought to supply Afghan security forces, Congressional investigators have learned, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

"A military attache has told the investigators the (US) ambassador to Albania endorsed a plan by the Albanian defense minister to hide several boxes of Chinese ammunition from a visiting (Times) reporter. The ammunition was being repackaged to disguise its origins and shipped from Albania to Afghanistan by a Miami Beach arms-dealing company," the report said.

According to the Times, Ambassador John Withers "met with the defense minister, Fatmir Mediu, hours before a reporter for The New York Times was to visit the American contractor's operations in Tirana, the Albanian capital."

According to the Times, the US company, working under an Army contract, bought the ammunition to supply Afghan security forces despite the fact that US law prohibits trading in Chinese arms.

The report named Major Larry D. Harrison II of the Army as the attache.

more:http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hoMnirSSaduvTCzmd_1ZcHziO35Q