Was a Mon Valley resident assassinated in Iraq because he was blowing the whistle on corruption in the country over weapons sales by the United States?
That was alleged in a story published by The Los Angeles Times and printed in today's edition of the Greensburg Tribune-Review.
On Dec. 8, 2004, contractor Dale Stoffel, 43, of Carroll Township, and a business associate, Joseph Wemple, 48, were gunned down after their vehicle was rammed by another vehicle shortly after leaving the Taji military base outside Baghdad.
Stoffel was shot shortly after he raised concerns of possible kickbacks being funneled from a middleman to Iraqi Defense Ministry officials, The California newspaper reported.
The news story claims Stoffel repeatedly warned a task force overseeing a $283 million arms deal that a Lebanese middleman identified as Raymond Zayna might be routing kickbacks to the Iraqi officials.
"If we proceed down the road we are currently on, there will be serious legal issues that will land us all in jail," Stoffel wrote in an e-mail to a senior assistant to U.S. Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who was overseeing the task force in charge of the arms deal, according to the story.
Stoffel wrote that e-mail on Nov. 30, eight days before he was killed, the story said.
However, senior U.S. military officials have continued to work with Zayna, who has taken over part of Stoffel's contract work in Iraq, according to the story, which claimed that documents discovered concerning Stoffel's assertions raised new questions about the U.S. military's role in the controversial weapons contract and also call into question the degree to which Iraq is running its own affairs.
Originally, the U.S. military claimed that the Iraqi government was in control of the arms project. However, The Times obtained e-mails that showed Petraeus' task force directly supervised the affair.
It has also been discovered that no one can account for a $24.7 million payment on the contract that was supposed to go to Stoffel, the story said.
The contract allegedly came to be in 2004, when Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi took office and announced plans to create a tank division for the new Iraqi army.
Here's what happened next, according to the newspaper account:
Allawi began pressing the United States for formation of the tank brigade. The Iraqis agreed to pay for formation of an entire mechanized division at an estimated cost of $283 million.
To get the contract going, according to the news story, Petraeus backed Stoffel - a weapons dealer with extensive experience in the equipment used by the Iraqi army - as a man who could deliver the goods.
Stoffel's company, Wye Oak technology, signed a broker's agreement with the Defense Ministry on Aug. 16. The deal gave Stoffel the exclusive right to act on the behalf of the Defense Ministry to buy tanks and other equipment needed for the division.
Stoffel was awarded the contract without competitive bidding, which is illegal under U.S. laws but not in Iraq.
In addition, Iraqi Defense Minister Mashal Sarraf insisted that Stoffel conduct all financial transactions through Zayna.
However, Stoffel quickly began to voice concerns over Zayna's relationship with the Iraqi defense officials.
Zayna was charging Stoffel a 3 percent fee on all transactions and Stoffel felt that part of the money was being kicked back to the Defense Ministry.
The Times also claimed that Stoffel said Zayna was forcing him to use certain contractors who were actually controlled by Zayna and Iraqi officials.
Stoffel told military officials that, in October, the Defense Ministry issued a $24.7 million payment to Zayna's company, General Investment Group, for refurbishing work that Stoffel had done. That money was never delivered to Stoffel.
Stoffel complained about the situation in letters written to Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn Hills) and to a senior Pentagon official. Stoffel also e-mailed U.S. Army Col. David Styles, who is Petraeus' assistant on the project.
Stoffel asked Styles to have Petraeus intervene to stop millions of dollars funneled - without oversight - through Zayna.
In late November, Stoffel returned to the United States to seek help in getting his payment. He went to Pentagon officials and Santorum's office and asking them to pressure Iraqi into giving him the $24.7 million.
In regard to Stoffel's complaints, U.S. military officials informed Zayna about the accusations of corruption. As a result, British Brig. Gen. David Clements called all of the parties involved to a meeting Dec. 5 in Baghdad.
As a result of the meeting, Clements ordered Zayna to release the money to Stoffel. But as of Dec. 8, Stoffel had still not been paid.
And on that day, Stoffel and Wemple were gunned down and their bodies left at the scene.
However, another occupant of Stoffel's vehicle escaped unharmed and that heightened suspicions that he might have been a player in the attack.
However, an insurgent group calling itself the Brigades of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the murders. That group was previously unknown to terrorism experts.
