Striangely, I'm against private industry being allowed anywhere near national defense. There are some places where I think the lowest bidder has no place to be.
The Age wrote:
SINCE 2006, when the insurgency in Afghanistan sharply intensified, the Afghan Government has been dependent on American military support in the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
But to arm the Afghan forces the US has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22-year-old man and whose vice-president is a licensed masseur.
With the award last January of a contract worth as much as $US300 million ($327 million), the company, AEY Inc, which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan's army and police.
Since then, according to an examination by The New York Times and interviews with US and Afghan officials, the company has provided ammunition that is more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging.
Much of it comes from the stockpiles of the old Communist bloc, including equipment that the US State Department and NATO have determined to be unreliable and obsolete.
Moreover, huge quantities of cartridges were made in China, making their procurement a possible violation of US law.
The company president, Efraim Diveroli, was secretly recorded suggesting corruption in his company's purchase of more than 100 million aging ammunition rounds in Albania.
This week the army suspended the company from any future federal contracts. Mr Diveroli says he is unaware of the action.
But problems with the ammunition were evident last year in such places as Nawa, Afghanistan, an outpost near the Pakistani border, where an Afghan lieutenant-colonel checked some rifle cartridges.
The cardboard boxes had split open, revealing ammunition manufactured in China in 1966. "This is what they give us for the fighting," said the colonel, Amanuddin, who like many Afghans has only one name. "It makes us worried because too much of it is junk." [What a polite understatement!]
An examination of AEY's background suggests that army contracting officials, under pressure to arm Afghan troops, allowed an immature company to act as supplier, and did so with minimal vetting.
In an interview late last year, Mr Diveroli denied any wrongdoing. "I know that my company does everything 100% on the up-and-up, and that's all I'm concerned about," he said.
Neither Mr Diveroli nor his company can bid on any further federal work for the time being.
In Afghanistan, US munitions officers are examining all the small-arms ammunition AEY has shipped.
The final shipment, which arrived in wooden crates, included loose and corroded cartridges, according to three officers.
But to arm the Afghan forces the US has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22-year-old man and whose vice-president is a licensed masseur.
With the award last January of a contract worth as much as $US300 million ($327 million), the company, AEY Inc, which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan's army and police.
Since then, according to an examination by The New York Times and interviews with US and Afghan officials, the company has provided ammunition that is more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging.
Much of it comes from the stockpiles of the old Communist bloc, including equipment that the US State Department and NATO have determined to be unreliable and obsolete.
Moreover, huge quantities of cartridges were made in China, making their procurement a possible violation of US law.
The company president, Efraim Diveroli, was secretly recorded suggesting corruption in his company's purchase of more than 100 million aging ammunition rounds in Albania.
This week the army suspended the company from any future federal contracts. Mr Diveroli says he is unaware of the action.
But problems with the ammunition were evident last year in such places as Nawa, Afghanistan, an outpost near the Pakistani border, where an Afghan lieutenant-colonel checked some rifle cartridges.
The cardboard boxes had split open, revealing ammunition manufactured in China in 1966. "This is what they give us for the fighting," said the colonel, Amanuddin, who like many Afghans has only one name. "It makes us worried because too much of it is junk." [What a polite understatement!]
An examination of AEY's background suggests that army contracting officials, under pressure to arm Afghan troops, allowed an immature company to act as supplier, and did so with minimal vetting.
In an interview late last year, Mr Diveroli denied any wrongdoing. "I know that my company does everything 100% on the up-and-up, and that's all I'm concerned about," he said.
Neither Mr Diveroli nor his company can bid on any further federal work for the time being.
In Afghanistan, US munitions officers are examining all the small-arms ammunition AEY has shipped.
The final shipment, which arrived in wooden crates, included loose and corroded cartridges, according to three officers.
