29 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
29 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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category: "Private Organization"
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location: "Russellville, Arkansas, USA"
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tags:
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- Organization
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- Organization/Military
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- Organization/Intelligence
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- United_States
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- Arkansas
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- 1980s
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- Contra_War
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- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
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summary: Arkansas parking meter manufacturer allegedly used as a front for manufacturing weapons parts for the Contras, with connections to Webb Hubbell.
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---
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Park On Meter Inc. was a small manufacturer of parking meters located in Russellville, [[Arkansas]], that was allegedly used as a front for manufacturing weapons parts for the [[Contras]].[^1]
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### Weapons Manufacturing Allegations
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Former Air Force intelligence officer [[Terry Reed]] claimed that Park On Meter was secretly manufacturing parts for M-16 rifles as a subcontractor on a CIA weapons project to supply the Contras. The *Washington Post* confirmed in 1994 that the company "did make some gun parts for Iver Johnson," another Arkansas manufacturer that shipped weapons to [[Nicaragua]] through a Mexican distributor. The Post dismissed the parts as "firing pins, not M-16 bolts as the book contends."[^1]
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### Key Personnel
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Park On Meter's former secretary and corporate lawyer was [[Webster Hubbell|Webb Hubbell]], who was also the brother-in-law of the company's owner. Hubbell admitted to a *Time* magazine reporter that POM was also making rocket launchers.[^1]
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Iver Johnson, the arms company near [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] that POM supplied, "did ship a load of weapons to Nicaragua through a Mexican distributor, according to former plant engineer J. A. Matejko," the *Washington Post* confirmed.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty"
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