Rep. Adam Schiff troubled by WikiLeaks cable charging that Armenia supplied weapons to Iran

Revelations that U.S. officials charged Armenia in 2008 with supplying Iran with weapons later used to kill U.S. troops in Iraq were "enormously troubling," said Rep. Adam Schiff, who has been a staunch supporter of Congress officially recognizing the Armenian genocide.

The charges were described in a cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan that also showed the U.S. Americans considered sanctions against Armenia and demanded that leaders there impose greater controls on the movement of weapons.

U.S. and Armenian officials declined to discuss the diplomatic cable, part of a cache of 250,000 documents being made public by the website WikiLeaks.

Advocates of strong ties between the United States and Armenia said they hoped and expected that the memo would not harm relations between the two nations. Nonetheless, Schiff, a congressional leader who has long advocated deeper U.S.-Armenia ties, said the allegation in the published cable "is enormously troubling."

Read the full story here.

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Comments

[Schigolch]

We have a low-level war ongoing between the Armenians and the Jews. This is hurting America.

[pmg]

I'm tired of America selling weapons to the world which end up killing people. I'm tired of American bombs indiscriminately killing Iraqi citizens.

[Leo]

Armenia did not sell weapons to Iran. Iran bought weapons through Armenian entities. America, israel, turkey all sell and give weapons and training directly to an "azeri" dictator who uses them to threaten war on and murders Armenian civilians civilians. Douzens of Armenian casualties have been recorded just this year caused by weapons sold by us to azers.

[Dave]

I'm an Armenian American.

This report is probably sheer politically motivated nonsense and must be understood in context.

The US itself at one time sold lots of weapons, including advanced jet aircraft, to Iran. And Turkey was identified in the recent Wikileaks exposures as being in the middle of various arms deals with Iran.
Turkey buys billions of dollars of natural gas from Iran every year. What do you think Iran does with those billions? Moreover, there were reports a year ago that US weapons in Iraq had found their way through the black market into the hands of Iraqi based terrorists. The US is thus responsible for killing its own troops, in that sense,

During the UN oil embargo on Iraq, the US looked the other way - this is well-known - as Turkey took in illegal oil deliveries across Iraq's Harbur Gate. Saddam Hussein used those Turkish funds to buy weapons that are now killing Americans. Ever hear about that one? Probably not.

Moreover, the US sold and sells weapons to Turkey that kill Kurds in Turkey and destroys Kurdish villages. And one wonders how many weapons from Turkey find their way into Iraqi hands now. The US gave weapons to the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan during the 1980's that the Taliban now use to kill Americans.

So Armenia maybe sold some small arms to Iran that may - may - have been used in Iraq? Compare that to Turkey's and the US's own sins with regard to the use of arms against civilians, and you will see how the mass media are trying to spin this story against Armenians.

And by the way, Armenia is the ONLY country in the region that has not been a base for Islamic extremists or Al-qaeda, neither as a host nor as a passageway.

Read Yossef Bodansky's reports on how Azerbaijan has been a terrorist base. Read reports on how Turkey established death squads against dissidents and how some of these death squads eventually turned into Turkish Hizbollah. Read about the Turkish terrorists who have wound up at Guantanamo and in the Taliban. No Armenian has ever wound up in those places.

We therefore have every reason to believe that this alleged charge against Armenia is politically motivated, and perhaps even completely false. It is the OTHERS who are killing American, certainly not Armenians.

[Teymur]

The signature of then-Armenian defence minister now president Serzh Sargsyan is on the documents that authorized Armenian arms sales to Iran. The president of Armenia signed it knowing that Iran will use it to support terror and in fact they were used to kill U.S. troops in Iraq.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/187156

Rep. Shiff is "troubled". How about Reps. Pelosi, Pallone, and Boxer? Are they troubled? Or are they too busy supporting some extreme nationalist Armenian-Americans who care less about fellow Americans than about continuing Armenian occupation of neighboring Azerbaijan and agressive posturing against Georgia and Turkey. I guess for these congressmen caring about political campaign contributions is more important than lives of American soldiers.