An Iraqi Arms Smuggling Ring Broken Up - It's Ugly
By GordonTaylor Posted in War — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Italian police have broken up an ugly 40 million dollar illegal arms deal involving Russian automatic weapons and apparently Iraqi officials!
From the AP:
For one thing, The Associated Press has learned that Iraqi government officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of the U.S. Baghdad command — a departure from the usual pattern of U.S.-overseen arms purchases.
Why these officials resorted to "black" channels and where the weapons were headed is unclear.
The purchase would merely have been the most spectacular example of how Iraq has become a magnet for arms traffickers and a place of vanishing weapons stockpiles and uncontrolled gun markets since the 2003 U.S. invasion and the onset of civil war.
Some guns the U.S. bought for Iraq's police and army are unaccounted for, possibly fallen into the hands of insurgents or sectarian militias. Meanwhile, the planned replacement of the army's AK-47s with U.S.-made M-16s may throw more assault rifles onto the black market. And the weapons free-for-all apparently is spilling over borders: Turkey and Iran complain U.S.-supplied guns are flowing from Iraq to anti-government militants on their soil.
Iraqi middlemen in the Italian deal, in intercepted e-mails, claimed the arrangement had official American approval. A U.S. spokesman in Baghdad denied that.
This is an interesting read and leaves many questions unanswered.
That's one heck of a tight ship they're runnin' over there, ain't it?
Mercy sakes.
Is it any wonder why they would prefer the ak-47's over the m16 or m4's? ive had enough experience with both to know which I'd want.
AND they wanted RUSSIAN Ak's. NOT the cheap Chinese crap. They know their stuff ;) LOL.
Now, the AR-10...I'd take that over any AK variant :D
it is just different. Sure, it is more reliable and does nto need to be cleaned as well to function, also, it fires a bigger bullet. on the other hand, the AK is not nearly as accurate as a good m16/m4.
they probably were going to give them to tribal/religious terrorists/militias. The AK would be a better choice for them because they would be able to get parts easier.
Molon Labe!
Our troops have won every battle, they have taken all ground they were tasked to take. Yet, in the end, the Iraqis may simply be unable to hold up their end. We are not there yet, but in the end we might just have to disarm the place on our way out.
Molon Labe!