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From Baghdad to Finland and All Across the World: What’s the US Up To?

We are publishing here two articles on this subject from Helsinki Times, dated December 29, 2018 and January 1, 2019 respectively.

Guarded warehouses near airport and mysterious cargo from Baghdad

by Will Sillitoe

Why does the US Embassy in Helsinki need a big warehouse near Malmi Airport and what are the contents of thousands of kilograms of cargo sent to Helsinki from Baghdad?

A dilapidated warehouse in Malmi is being used by the US Embassy for unknown operations after a Wikileaks release revealed its location.

The anonymous looking building on Takoraudantie is notable only for the new 427 meter perimeter fence that according to the Wikileaks’ database was ordered by the US Embassy in April 2018.

Situated across the street from the main entrance of Malmi Airport, the warehouse with its 3 meter high security fence appears an unlikely location for official embassy business. Neighbouring companies include a car yard and a tyre warehouse.

Helsinki Times visited the perimeters this weekend. Security personnel, young Finns in uniforms with American flags on their arms, appeared nervous and suspicious when asked to comment on the warehouse and refused to even confirm the order of the new fence structure which now surrounds the compound. At one point a security guard appeared in a second floor window to carefully monitor this reporter’s movements along Takoraudantie.

Warehouse
US embassy warehouse near Malmi airport. This image from Google street view is from 2011. The newly built permitter fence can not be seen in this image.

Mysterious parcels from Baghdad

The Wikileaks’ database has also revealed mysterious packages being sent to the US Embassy in Finland from their embassy in Baghdad.

The database displaying US embassy procurements around the world shows that tons of cargo are being distributed to Helsinki and other US embassies via regular airfreight cargo deliveries from Baghdad.

Twelve consignments, each logged at 5000 kilograms are recorded as sent to Helsinki and 23 other West European US embassies – an average of 2500 kilograms per US embassy.

The reason for such a vast volume of embassy deliveries from Baghdad is as yet unknown but this latest disclosure follows Wikileaks news that the US Consulate in Frankfurt was a purchase and postal centre for distributing spy equipment to other US embassies worldwide. Concerns are now raised that the US Embassy in Baghdad is also being used as a main distribution centre for secret operations.

In addition to Finland and Western Europe, the Wikileaks database shows that the US embassy in Baghdad disseminates hundreds of tons worldwide, with more than 300,000 kilograms recorded as being delivered Stateside alone.

Incoming diplomatic mail between embassies receives customs clearance and is automatically classified as a US government shipment.

The 80 page order list also details massive movements of road and air freight between Basra in the south of Iraq and Erbil in the north. No indication of the cargo contents are provided but the order sheets reveal convoys of trucks and vehicles were hired by Baghdad’s US embassy for the mysterious shipments.

Warehouse-areal
The warehouse is equipped with several big gates suitable for lorries to drive in. Containers and a forklift in the yard indicate heavy duty use. A special antenna is on the roof.

Spy gadgets and surveillance operations

The disclosure of the building’s use by the US Embassy in Finland comes in light of revelations about US embassy spying activities worldwide, as featured in the Wikileaks’ US embassy shopping list database. In a published list of more than 16000 miscellaneous items, requests also appear for recording devices disguised as pens, lighters, glasses, watches and even spy shirt buttons.

Although US embassy procurements are public information, Wikileaks new database allows for country specific searches, giving clearer evidence of US embassy involvement in secret surveillance operations in certain parts of the world.. The timing of this latest Wikileaks’ release came just hours after its Twitter accounts were cyber attacked late on Friday, ahead of the Christmas holiday.

According to the database, requests made by the US Embassy in Finland appear to be for everyday items. Procurements include a tractor as well as services for snow removal, plumbing, gardening and cleaning. However, in light of ‘Tactical Spy Equipment’ purchased by US embassies elsewhere the existence of the warehouse compound near Malmi Airport raises concerns about potential secret operations closer to home. US Embassy official responsible for ordering the warehouse perimeter fence, was unavailable for comment.

US-embassy-complex-in-Helsinki
Strategically located US embassy complex in Helsinki and the newly built “Innovation Center”.

Worldwide, the Wikileaks’ online data reveals that Latin America is the main target for purchases of spying equipment. Camera hats and USB drives as well as night visors and binoculars were among items procured for the US embassy in Colombia. But topping the list for requested surveillance items was the US embassy in El Salvador where the purchase of ‘Tactical Spy Equipment’ totalled 94 items.

Back in 2017 Wikileaks documents revealed that the American consulate in Frankfurt had served as a covert base to carry out digital spy operations. Using the US Embassy shopping list database, Germany’s Der Spiegel has now identified the consulate as a main buyer of spy equipment for diplomatic missions across Europe.

These latest Wikileaks’ revelations further highlight the role of US embassies in espionage activities across the globe. Some reports suggest over 80 US embassies worldwide conceal joint NSA-CIA “Special Collection Service” radio and electronic surveillance equipment. Such concerns add to the questions concerning activities at the Malmi warehouse and the secrecy surrounding it.

However, the database of US embassy shopping lists reveals some less concerning items too with one evoking the craziness of an Inspector Clouseau rather than a cold, calculating 007: A person to count fish and clean the pond was sought by the consulate in Guayaquil, Ecuador after officials lost track of how many fish they possessed.

The searchable Wikileaks database and info about Finland related activities can be found HERE.

Images  Google maps

What Does the US Embassy in Baghdad Export to Finland and Dozens of Other Countries?

by Will Sillitoe
More than a million kilograms of cargo were shipped from Baghdad to different parts of the world, reveals US embassies procurement documents.
Mysterious cargo shipments from the US Embassy in Baghdad to other American embassies and consulates around the world have been revealed on a Wikileaks’ database. Procurement orders of US embassies are public documents, but Wikileaks put them in a searchable database making it easier to analyse.
The database displaying worldwide US embassy orders of goods and services reveals Baghdad as a postal and shipping centre for tonnes of freight.

Though military freight might be expected between the US and Iraq, records show that embassies across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa are all receiving deliveries from Baghdad too.

According to Wikileaks’ database, orders to ship more than 540 tonnes of cargo to the US were made in May 2018. The same document shows other main delivery destinations included 120 tonnes of freight to Europe, and 24 tonnes to South Africa, South America and Central Africa respectively. In comparison, only two and a half tonnes of freight were moved within Iraq between Baghdad, Basra and Erbil International Airports. So, the export of items from Iraq appears to be the primary activity.

The content of the deliveries is as yet unclear, though the order contract suggests household items, rugs, electrical goods, linen, kitchenware, furniture, pianos, refrigerators, books, chinaware, clothing as well as mail could be among the items dispatched. According to the website movers.com, an average one bedroom apartment of furniture weighs approximately one tonne but the practicality of moving many types of household objects across continents is doubtful. It also remains unclear whether the quantity of tonnage relates to many small deliveries or a small number of very large ones.

The lack of disclosed orders moving cargo and services into Iraq highlights that the movement of diplomats and their families into such a dangerous region on a large scale is unlikely.  Transfers of military personnel back and forth would normally go through the US airbases in Iraq and not via the Embassy administration. So discounting the movement of more than a thousand staff members out of Iraq to countries around the world means that the content and purpose of the shipments remains a mystery.

The Wikileaks’ database findings coincide with the discovery of a previously undisclosed US Embassy warehouse near Malmi Airport, a storage facility suitable for receiving large truckloads of incoming freight. Documents also show that the US Embassy in Finland ordered a new security perimeter fence for the warehouse compound in April 2018. The purpose for the warehouse remains unknown.

This latest uncovering of unusual US embassy activity follows the 2017 exposure of the US Consulate in Frankfurt being used for surveillance operations and as a buying and postal dispatch centre of spying equipment for other US consulates. These latest Wikileaks revelations raise concerns that the US Embassy in Baghdad may also serve as a hub for secret operations worldwide.

The database also reveals that items listed as ‘Tactical Spy Equipment’ were ordered for US embassies in Latin America, with Colombia and El Salvador receiving a range of spy cameras disguised as pens, glasses, hats, USB drives and even shirt buttons.

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summitflyer
summitflyer
Jan 17, 2019 2:07 PM

One can only think nefariously when one is talking about the intentions of the US / CIA in other countries .Guns and drugs would be my first picks.

Thomas Prentice
Thomas Prentice
Jan 16, 2019 1:17 AM

Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz et al made sure the new US Embassy in Baghdad was terribly much vastly larger than ANY US embassy in the world in history. So, yes, at a minimum, I think it “may also serve as a hub for secret operations worldwide.”

Gratitude to Wikileaks and to the writers for these articles.

Estaugh
Estaugh
Jan 15, 2019 11:14 PM

Biological weapons comes to mind as being amongst the parcels being delivered.

Jen
Jen
Jan 15, 2019 10:04 PM

“… Twelve consignments, each logged at 5000 kilograms are recorded as sent to Helsinki and 23 other West European US embassies – an average of 2500 kilograms per US embassy …”

5,000 kilograms = 5 metric tonnes: that’s quite a weight for one consignment.

Where are the other 23 American embassies in “West Europe” actually located?

Such a heavy consignment in a diplomatic bag coming from Baghdad of all places could mean one of two things: either weapons are being transported (perhaps to instigate Color Revolutions in countries where people are starting to rebel against their governments, as in France and maybe soon in Britain); or precious archaeological artefacts are being taken illegally out of Iraq and scattered across western Europe to implicate all countries equally in the mass robbery.

Schlüter
Schlüter
Jan 15, 2019 6:41 PM

Let me remind you again:
„Geo-Politics: The Core of Crisis and Chaos and the Nightmares of the US Power Elite“ https://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/geo-politics-the-core-of-crisis-and-chaos-the-nightmares-of-the-us-power-elite/
As for the “Equipment” shipped and flown from Baghdadm possibly it has to do with this:
“Mkultra Alive? An Alarm Call”: https://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2018/01/10/mkultra-alive-an-alarm-call-mkultra-lebt-ein-alarmruf/
Possibly the US Power Elite wants to push the world into total chaos before they might be hit by one of the three geophysical disasters pending over the US (where the question is not whether, but only when): the “Big One”, the Magma bubble under Yellowstone and the Tsunami danger for the East Coast by an instable vulcano flanc on Canary Islands!
Regards

wardropper
wardropper
Jan 15, 2019 6:30 PM

Oh, wouldn’t it be just appropriate and nice if the people of Baghdad turned up at the embassy and said, “Kindly leave. Our country is none of your business.”…?

Chevrus
Chevrus
Jan 15, 2019 4:42 PM

What sort of loot would be shipping around the world? Letseeeeeee….Well there are the good ole G.O.D. items for a start. Guns and all that comes with it. Oil? Well thats in the background of most everything and last but certainly not least: Drugs. If i were a clandestine agency with tentacles around the globe, it sure would be nice to have an near untraceable revenue stream. Having a bumper crop of somniferum would come in handy. Heck, it kinda sells itelf once you get the hooks in! Now we need a system of distribution hubs: check! A transport fleet: check! Now for a network of confidential informants to help with the distribution: check! Let the good times roll.

the #1 Itinerary
the #1 Itinerary
Jan 15, 2019 4:24 PM

Great post 🙂

George cornell
George cornell
Jan 15, 2019 11:00 AM

All this while the infrastructure in the US crumbles. The roads in Michigan and many other states are decidedly third world, bridges are way beyond their expiry date, and the wall which they cannot afford, paralyses process. Social programs are grossly underfunded yet the military continues to suckle on the front teats while spying on their own populace.

Yet the longevity in the US is no greater than that in Cuba, which spends only 10% as much on health care, the prisons are bursting, racist governance of the military thrives, yet trillions go missing at the unaccountable Pentagon.

Surely the American voter who realized their own government was actually a competitor, if not an opponent, and voted for Trump, will no longer endure the warped priorities and demand sweeping reform. But as Churchill said, not until they have done everything else. This cannot end well. Anyone who would say and do the necessary things is unelectable.

lynette cracknell chaplin
lynette cracknell chaplin
Jan 15, 2019 2:37 PM
Reply to  George cornell

As American tax payers, you have paid for the wall that has been created to keep Palestinians out of their country, but you are told you don’t have money to build a wall or fence to keep illegal immigrants from entering your country.

Seamus Padraig
Seamus Padraig
Jan 15, 2019 4:25 PM

Not exactly. We’re told that wanting a wall to help keep illegal aliens out of the US is racist. But if we object to funding a wall around Israel to keep native, indigenous Palestinians out of their own country, then we’re being anti-Semitic. Make sense?

Glasshopper
Glasshopper
Jan 15, 2019 9:56 PM

Don’t forget the exorbitant sums paid to Jordan and Egypt too.

Gotta hand it to those Yankee taxpayers. They’ve sure got deep pockets!

Fair dinkum
Fair dinkum
Jan 15, 2019 7:23 AM

Lies heaped upon lies as the empire dies.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JaLjwSpZ6Cs