XP: The New Arms Bazaar: From Russia, With No Love

[flashl]

Wired
Sharon Weinberger
July 30, 2008

If there one thing that's truly disturbing about the sale of Russian weapons to Iraq and Afghanistan, it's that it demonstrates how parts of the U.S. government have been forced to find ways to evade American law. Specifically, we now have the Pentagon, which is under pressure to rapidly equip Iraq and Afghanistan, forced to turn to Russian suppliers that might be sanctioned under U.S. law.

Over the past week, I've written about how the U.S. Army, as an example of this effort, handed out a no-bid contract to a well-connected U.S. defense company. The firm planned to route a Russian helicopter sale through a UAE-based firm in an attempt to avoid dealing with Russia's blacklisted weapons export control agency. That deal, for Mi-17 helicopters, could eventually reach half a billion dollars, if it includes Afghanistan.

This is by no means an anomaly. Earlier this month, I wrote an article and a series of blog posts about how Defense Solutions, a company linked to former Congressman Curt Weldon, has tested the legal bounds of this new arms bazaar in Iraq, Russia and Libya.

These deals are all colors of shady. But at the end of the day, who's to blame? The Defense Department and its novel interpretation of U.S. laws? The State Department and its inability to manage U.S. foreign assistance and export control laws? The defense companies willing to wheel and deal in this gray market? Or, a conspiracy of well-connected former officials out to make a quick buck?