Call it a sign of the times...

It looks like Freedom's Watch, the pro-war pressure group bankrolled by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and talked up by former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, is wrapping up its operations -- apparently without too much to show for its efforts.

The advocacy organization is likely to permanently shut its doors at the end of the year, according to sources who spoke to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

As we noted earlier this month, Adelson has been down on his financial luck lately. His casino company Las Vegas Sands recently said it may default on debt and face bankruptcy.

The group, which advocates an open-ended commitment in Iraq and unquestioning support for Israeli hawks, spent $30 million to influence the recent congressional elections.

But spokesman Ed Patru, a former spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee, wouldn't say how the group's favored candidates fared. "Our focus was to impact the debate," said Patru.

In other words, it's safe to assume, not well.

Did U.S. intelligence listen in on the personal phone calls of Tony Blair and former Iraqi president Ghazi Al-Yawer?

That's what David Murfee Faulk, a former Arab linguist who worked at a secret NSA facility, has told ABCNews.com. Murfee Faulk says he saw and read a file on Blair's "private life" and heard "pillow talk" exchanged between Al-Yawer and his then-fiancee.

The U.S. and Britain have pledged not to collect information covertly on each other, several former intelligence officials told ABCNews.com -- though this would by no means be the first time the U.S. was found to have done so.

Last month, Murfee Faulk and another former worker at the NSA facility revealed to the news network that the agency had listened in on private calls made by American journalists, aid workers, and soldiers stationed in Iraq. A Senate panel has said it is investigating those claims.

Contracting giant Blackwater has confirmed the existence of multiple federal investigations into its work in shipping weapons to Iraq, reports Congress Daily.

The North Carolina company is facing separate investigations by a grand jury in the state, and by the State Department.

But in a statement, it took issue with some details from news reports last week. "The investigations ... do not allege that the company failed to obtain licenses or failed to ensure the government was aware of its actions," it said.

Rather, it said, "[t]he investigations concern Blackwater's not properly annotating the licenses, not timely submitting required reports, and not retaining required records."

Still, it essentially admitted the most eyebrow-raising charge -- that it had shipped weapons inside sacks of dog food -- saying that this was done to prevent theft.

Separately, federal prosecutors have drafted an indictment against Blackwater guards in connection with the deadly shooting of 17 Baghdad civilians last year, though no decisions on charges have been made.

Yesterday, we noted that the State Department plans to fine Blackwater USA for illegally shipping weapons to Iraq without the proper permits.

Now, ABCNews.com adds some more detail to the picture, reporting that a federal grand jury is probing whether the company used sacks of dog food to hide weapons and silencers it was shipping into Iraq.

State Department rules forbid Blackwater from using "offensive" weapons, including silencers, which, an expert tells ABCNews.com, would only be used for assassinations.

The report adds:

Larger items, including M-4 assualt weapons, were secreted on shipping pallets surrounded by stacks of dog food bags, the former employees said. The entire pallet would be wrapped in cellophane shrink wrap, the former employees said, making it less likely US customs inspectors would look too closely.

Earlier today, the Associated Press reported that an indictment had been drafted in connection to the deadly shootings of 17 Iraqi civilians last year, in which 6 Blackwater guards have been implicated. No decision has yet been made to file charges.

Federal prosecutors have drafted an indictment against 6 guards working for Blackwater USA, who were involved in deadly shootings last year of 17 Baghdad civilians, according to the Associated Press.

But it's not yet certain that charges will be filed. AP reports:

The draft is being reviewed by senior Justice Department officials but no charging decisions have been made. A decision is not expected until at least later this month, people close to the case said.

The shootings by Blackwater guards, which witnesses described as an unprovoked attack, took place at a busy Baghdad intersection in September of last year.

Earlier this week, the company was fined by the State Department for shipping automatic weapons to Iraq without permits.

Blackwater USA, the State Department's largest personal security contractor in Iraq, is set to be hit with a multi-million dollar fine for shipping automatic weapons to that country without the necessary permits, reports McClatchy. Some of the weapons are believed to have ended up on Iraq's black market.

The State Department has been looking into whether Blackwater employees shipped weapons hidden in shrink-wrapped pallets from the companies headquarters in North Carolina to Iraq. No criminal charges have been filed in the case.

But according to one official, the department found that Blackwater shipped 900 weapons to Iraq without the paperwork required by arms export control regulations.

Since the weapons case became public in September 2007, Blackwater has received $1.2 billion in federal contracts, by one estimate.

The company is also being investigated by the Justice Department in connection with the killing last year of 17 Iraqi civilians.