Wednesday, April 23, 2008

UNARMED IN AFGHANISTAN





















If you were sent to defend a foreign country against Al Qaeda forces, wouldn’t you want weapons and ammunition? Well, our young soldiers are struggling without ‘em.

Since 2006, the Afghan government has been dependent on American military support against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.



Most of the ammunition has come from an upstart company in Florida called AEY Inc. Get this…our government awarded a $300 million contract to this company led by a 22-year-old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur. Just who handles these arms deals?

Since January of 2008, the company has provided ammunition that is more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging, according to American and Afghan officials. Much of the ammunition comes from the aging stockpiles of the old Communist bloc made in the early 70’s.



The US State Department and NATO have determined these munitions to be unreliable and obsolete, and should have been destroyed years ago.

This Kid even created a shell company which is already on a federal list of entities suspected of illegal arms trafficking. So who is responsible?


The New York Times reported that these arms were manufactured in China, which is a violation of American law. The company's president, Efraim E. Diveroli, was also secretly recorded in a conversation that suggested corruption in his company's purchase of more than 100 million aging rounds in Albania.

Hundreds of Hudson Valley men & women are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and else-where to manage conflicts that threaten US interests. You would think that our own government would do a little research first. I bet our new Landlord DATAbase would do better.

If AEY Inc. is found in violation of the contract the company will be permanently barred from doing business with the U.S. government. The House Oversight Committee is currently reviewing this in hearings all this week.

I met this young man at the Midtown Center the day the troops came home last month. He told me of his training and where he hoped to be posted. Which makes the question local. When we send a local reserves cadet into harms way (pictured right) shouldn't he be prepared with all the means to protect himself?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Until there is a change in our leadership in DC, you wont see anything shape-up militarily.

Our troops are the best in the world, but as long as the government treats them the way they do while deployed and when they get home, nothing will change.

Where do you find this stuff?

Anonymous said...

sounds like business as usual. people do what they are programmed to do - at all levels - i guess.

'tis a sad time afoot. 'tis a sad time.

keep up the good work mike.