Feds target Blackwater in weapons probe

More trouble for Blackwater USA, based in Moyock, North Carolina, just south of the Virginia state line from here. As the Virginian Pilot is reporting (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BLACKWATER_PROBE?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME), it appears that Blackwater employees may have been involved in weapon sales to terrorists (as if these mercenaries do not get paid enough already - i.e., in some cases $1,000+ per day). I have a real problem with the USA using what are basically hired mercenaries. Here are some story highlights:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled into Iraq weapons that may have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, officials said Friday. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, N.C., is handling the investigation with help from Pentagon and State Department auditors, who have concluded there is enough evidence to file charges, the officials told The Associated Press. Blackwater is based in Moyock, N.C.

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 Saturday's editions, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that two former Blackwater employees - Kenneth Wayne Cashwell of Virginia Beach, Va., and William Ellsworth "Max" Grumiaux of Clemmons, N.C. - are cooperating with federal investigators.

Cashwell and Grumiaux pleaded guilty in early 2007 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 viewed by The Associated Press. In their plea agreements, which call for a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the men agreed to testify in any future proceedings.

The News & Observer, citing unidentified sources, reported that the probe was looking at whether Blackwater had shipped unlicensed automatic weapons and military goods to Iraq without a license. The paper's report that the company itself was under investigation could not be confirmed by the AP.