Have 200,000 AK47s fallen into the hands of Iraq terrorists?

[Barrett808]

SOME 200,000 guns the US sent to Iraqi security forces may have been smuggled to terrorists, it was feared yesterday.

The 99-tonne cache of AK47s was to have been secretly flown out from a US base in Bosnia. But the four planeloads of arms have vanished.

Orders for the deal to go ahead were given by the US Department of Defense. But the work was contracted out via a complex web of private arms traders.

And the Moldovan airline used to transport the shipment was blasted by the UN in 2003 for smuggling arms to Liberia, human rights group Amnesty has discovered.

It follows a separate probe claiming that thousands of guns meant for Iraq's police and army instead went to al-Qaeda

Amnesty chief spokesman Mike Blakemore said: "It's unbelievable that no one can account for 200,000 assault rifles. If these weapons have gone missing it's a terrifying prospect." American defence chiefs hired a US firm to take the guns, from the 90s Bosnian war, to Iraq.

(more)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17055497&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=have-200-000-missing-ak47s-fallen-into-the-hands-of-iraq-terrorists---name_page.html

[Dunvegan]

1. Yes. Because the Department of Defense Wants to Arm the Insurgency.

"Misery Accomplished."

The true goal of Rumsfeld's machine is to perpetuate and fuel the civil war in Iraq.

Destablizing countries of the Middle East is part of the Neocon/PNAC plan for subsuming the Middle East into an American Empire sphere of influence.

If the Sunnis are fighting the Shiites and vice versa, the US can "stand down our soldiers as they stand up to kill each other."

PNAC diplomacy. Gotta hate it.

[WhiteTara]

20. The true goal of Rumsfeld's machine is to perpetuate and fuel the civil wa

Rummy stated this at the beginning...his idea of success was for Americans to realize we would be at war for a long long time. :grr:

[tatertop]

2. Bush and his buddies are not concerned as long as they get their cut

Fuel the killing while stuffing your pockets, that's what Bush calls
'good bidness'

[me b zola]

3. Jesus

Which army/militia is bush* secretly arming? Is he going to try another coup in Venezuela, arm militias in Iran or Africa, or is this for the civil war in Iraq?

bush* may be fairly neutered on his domestic policy, but he is still more than able to unleash a considerable amount of evil around the world. He really must be stopped.

[LifeDuringWartime]

27. my first thought too

.....Iran?

[One Honest Guy]

4. "four planeloads of arms have vanished"

Somebody is arming dissident factions inside Iran?

[Weaksauce]

5. Thats propoganda

There really aren't any dissident factions in Iran. They are more democratic than the US.
Don't fall for that crap.

[Rex]

21. Oliver North is at it again.

nt

[karynnj]

6. It might be good to wait for more sources

I could easily have it confused with a different paper, but I think the Mirror has sometimes had stories that didn't pan out.

If this is true, it's beyond awful.

[KansDem]

7. BushCo has had a problem with securing weapons caches.

Tons of Iraq explosives missing

'Massive' facility also held large caches of artillery

Monday, October 25, 2004 Posted: 8:52 PM EDT (0052 GMT)

(CNN) -- Some 380 tons of explosives powerful enough to detonate nuclear warheads are missing from a former Iraqi military facility that was supposed to be under American control, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency says.

Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the interim Iraqi government reported to the agency several days ago in a letter that the explosives were missing from the Al Qaqaa complex south of Baghdad.

The explosives -- considered powerful enough to demolish buildings or detonate nuclear warheads -- were under IAEA control until the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. IAEA workers left the country before the fighting began.

"Our immediate concern is that if the explosives did fall into the wrong hands, they could be used to commit terrorist acts and some of the bombings that we've seen," Fleming said.

...more...
CNN

:eyes:

And they want us to believe they're making us "safer" in the wake of 9/11.

[Drum]

11. I remember this...

I was (and am) appalled by the way it was swept under the rug, and never spoken of since.

Thanks for remembering, and posting.

[Johnyawl]

8. The NRA should be pissed about this!

How come them guns weren't sold to 'merikan hunters and sportsmen??!!

:sarcasm:

[Drum]

12. ...but instead sold to hunters OF 'merikan sportsmen. nt

[benEzra]

26. Maybe because they're restricted in this country...

The NRA should be pissed about this!

How come them guns weren't sold to 'merikan hunters and sportsmen??!!

Maybe because they're restricted in the USA by the Title 2/Class III provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934, restrictions which the NRA supports, and because possession of those guns by any American other than employees of police/military/security agencies is a 10-year Federal felony...

[pinniped]

9. Billions of OUR missing dollars could buy....

waaaay better weaponry than 200k AK47 rifles. BUt we know those billions are safe in the crooked coalition members' offshore bank accounts.

Did the rifles get delivered to the al-Qaeda warehouse?

It follows a separate probe claiming that thousands of guns meant for Iraq's police and army instead went to al-Qaeda

Why would these alleged al-Qaeda guys need these rifles for? We were told they are financed by the billionaire Sith Lord Osama Bin Laden himself.

[Javaman]

10. Whoops!!! is there anyone associated with this admin* that can

do anything right one day in a a row?

it's like the fucking keystone cops with blindfolds on.

I'm sure the troops over there are delighted about this little piece of news, if in fact there were even allowed to know.

colossal racist failure*.

[PurityOfEssence]

22. Imagine what trouble we'd be in if these guys were competent...

That really is the saving grace with these monarchic primitive thugs: they're first-rate bunglers.

[Rex]

13. So the DoD picked an airline that smuggles arms to Liberia.

And it appears the AK-47s were smuggled out of the country without notice. Hmmm...

[One Honest Guy]

23. That's a helluva lot of AKs.

My guess is that they are headed for some Kurdish paramilitary group, or some warlord in Africa. Like north Uganda or south Sudan. *nudge*, *nudge*, *wink*, *wink*

[InkAddict]

24. and probably escorted by

evangelical missionaries too - if true

[Public_Hazard]

14. Holy crap

:wtf: Can't this admin keep track of anything? every day it seems like some weapons cache or something has fallen "into terrorist hands". I might buy this BS if we were actually fighting the terrorists that keep getting our weapons through mysterious circumstances.

[0007]

15. It sure appears that the U.S. is doing its earnest to give away

the house.

Brings to mind the big ammunition dump that went unnoticed until to late and out sourcing our ports just for starters.

[TheCrankyOne]

16. SICK!

I am just sick about this. How come the MSM doesn't scream this from the tops of their lungs? I don't care what Paris Hilton is doing today give me some real news!!!!!!!!!

[Tellurian]

17. Haven't you seen...

Nick Cage's movie, Lord of War?

He discovers in this movie the biggest arms dealers

around the globe are the quintessential, Perfecta.

The US, Russia and Great Britain.

[killbotfactory]

18. Pretty much everyone in Iraq had an AK-47 before we invaded.

So, I doubt it made much difference.

[KeepItReal]

29. Exactly. Those guns are goin to Africa

IMHO

[Hotler]

19. I think it's poppy and his group of thugs.

With Baker cleaning up.

[InkAddict]

25. You got that right but

gotta hide poppy profits somewheres.

[olddad56]

28. our government are the Iraqi terrorists;

Those guns are now in the hands of the people fighting for their country and their fellow citizens.