Iran buying suplus F-14 parts , NO PROBLEM

[FogerRox]

Iran gets military gear in Pentagon surplus sale
Sensitive weapon, F-14 parts surprisingly easy to acquire at auctions

The Pentagon recently retired its Tomcats and is shipping tens of thousands of spare parts to its surplus office — the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service — where they could be sold in public auctions. Iran is the only other country flying F-14s.

“It stands to reason Iran will be even more aggressive in seeking F-14 parts,” said Stephen Bogni, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s arms export investigations. Iran can only produce about 15 percent of the parts itself, he said.

Sensitive military surplus items are supposed to be demilitarized or “de-milled” — rendered useless for military purposes — or, if auctioned, sold only to buyers who promise to obey U.S. arms embargoes, export controls and other laws.

Sensitive surplus easy to acquire
The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, found it alarmingly easy to acquire sensitive surplus. Last year, its agents bought $1.1 million worth — including rocket launchers, body armor and surveillance antennas — by driving onto a base and posing as defense contractors.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16648850/

[kineneb]

1. great white father speak with forked tongue

or is it more...great white salesman sell "surplus" to anyone waving dollars...? There apparently have been lots of "backdoor" deals with Iran, just no one has publicized them until recently.

[babylonsister]

2. Sales have been suspended:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1583715,00.html

snip//

"The Pentagon's decision to suspend sales of surplus F-14 parts is welcome news," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who had requested a Senate inquiry into surplus security following the AP report. "In this era of instability, we can hardly afford to be sloppy about something as sensitive as our national security."

Sen. Ron Wyden has introduced legislation to permanently end all Pentagon sales of surplus F-14 parts, saying the military's marketing of the spares "defies common sense" in light of their importance to Iran. He is among lawmakers calling for stronger congressional oversight of the surplus program.

snip//

[FogerRox]

4. Right, after they got busted, they suspend sales.. oh gee...

[peacetalksforall]

3. Isn't that a good reason for not having a war - i.e., invading Iran

against sane peoples' wills?

If Iran is the only country flying F-14's and we want to sell parts to someone - why go to war with them and demolish their air force and purchasing need?

I wonder how much money Iran has fed into our GDP?

(Sorry for being fliply sarcastic - I'm really grieving for the innocent peole of Iran. They don't deserve our PNAC/neo-con/AIE-AEIPAC-Baron factions and operatives - and supported by our military, media, and corporations with politicos and think tanks leading the way.