Former GOP Rep Weldon's Firm Lobbied White House to Buy East European Arms for Iraq

[sabra]

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/07/iron-triangles.html#more

In may, Defense Solutions, the Pennsylvania-based arms-dealer employing former Congressman Curt Weldon, paid a visit to the White House to discuss weapons sales to Iraq. The company's hope was to convince White House officials that Iraq should buy East European arms, rather than those made in the United States. After meeting with staff in the vice president's office, Defense Solutions CEO Timothy Ringgold sent an e-mail, a copy of which was provided to DANGER ROOM, to some of his colleagues. In it, he sums up his sales pitch. The idea, Ringgold says, is to supply former Soviet Bloc tanks, armored personnel carriers, and fighting vehicles as a "near term solution" for beefing up the Iraqi military.

We learned that the US government has not agreed, but "is considering" providing M1A1 Abrams to Iraq... Our {p}rogram was presented as a near term solution (next 1-4 years) to Iraq's need for wheeled and tracked armor vehicles... to speed the operational readiness of the Iraqi Army...

Should a decision be made to supply Abrams, it doubtful that more than 20 or 30 could be supplied in the first two years... while we could supply {former Soviet bloc armor, like} 500+ modernized T-72s {tanks}, 500+ upgraded BMPs {fighting vehicles}, and nearly 400 new production BTRs . We are likely months, perhaps longer from a decision on Abrams. In the mean time, the Iraqi Defense Minister is apparently making no decisions.


Pitching White House officials on your contract is hardly unusual. But it is interesting to note the company's strategies for hawking its East European-origin weapons. "We can go back to Congress," Ringgold wrote. "This won't be easy either, but we could try and set-up a hearing on the topic to send the message to the Iraqi government or to pressure the US Government to demand progress on the immediate equipping of the Iraqi Army etc. along the lines of our solution."

Another strategy Ringgold discussed was to use the press to push the company's sale. "We could try to get a feature article published in a major newspaper, such as the Washington Post," he wrote. The topic of the story: that the troop "surge" in Iraq inadvertently "allowed the Iraqi Government to virtually stop the preparation of the Iraqi Army to take over the fight. In other words, the Iraqis let Americans do the fighting rather than standing up their Army for the job."

...

There are legitimate reasons for Iraq, in some cases, to choose East European weapons over American-origin equipment. The Iraqi army is more accustomed to the logistics and training when it comes to some of these weapons, since they worked with Soviet gear for so long. But the issue here is how these deals have been pushed through, sometimes in questionable fashion, without regard to Iraqi or U.S. interests. Writing at War and Piece, Laura Rozen eloquently sums up the crux of the issue:

There seems to be a pattern of arms dealers with access to East Europe stockpiles getting themselves hooked up with ex US government officials who can grease the way to Pentagon-overseen deals to sell to Iraq, Afghanistan and the markets made available by Bush admin Mid East policy. Quite a bazaar. One former US official comments, "I think they are all scumbags and the reason there is so much confusion is that everyone 'feels' that somehow, somewhere, Weldon is doing what the administration wants him to do."

[Bonhomme Richard]

1. They have to fill that void left by the 22 year old..........

in Miami selling those tainted bullets.
What an opportunity.