Italy probe unearths huge Iraq arms deal

[Xipe Totec]

Source: Associated Press

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.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070812/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_operation_parabellum_2

[1932]

1. Because if it comes out of Italy and it's about Iraq, it's true.

Anyone else here reading "The Italian Letter"?

[rodeodance]

13. Seems to me the WH would want to bury this story, Whereas with the Italian

Letter, they used it to justify the iraq war.




Unless I am missing something?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. When you consider that some of the police we have armed ARE the

insurgents, (many actually) then everything makes a little more sense.

[saltpoint]

3. Don't worry, everyone. I'm sure Condoleezza Rice will straighten this

whole thing out pronto.

[babylonsister]

4. Thanks for the reminder. I feel better now.

:silly:

[saltpoint]

5. -- --

:hi:

[babylonsister]

6. Hi, O C! Good to see you!

:hi:

[ClintonTyree]

20. She's on vacation....

doing a little shoe shopping, catching a few Broadway plays, sampling NY's night-life. This can wait. I mean, who could have seen something like this ever occurring? :shrug:

[saltpoint]

23. That's right. It couldn't have been foreseen.

Rice has got to be the most nondescript nobody to ever serve as Secretary of State. She'd almost go undetected through the crowded streets, save for her trademark scowl.

[peacetalksforall]

7. How many ways and from how many angles has PNAC screwed us?

[rodeodance]

8. Tell me again; what does US know about Iraq????

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6844829,00.html

Italy Probe Unearths Huge Iraq Arms Deal


Sunday August 12, 2007 5:01 PM

By CHARLES J. HANLEY and ARIEL DAVID

Associated Press Writers

PERUGIA, Italy (AP) - ............

As the secretive, $40 million deal neared completion, Italian authorities moved in, making arrests and breaking it up. But key questions remain unanswered.

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.

...........................

The Pentagon, meanwhile, has described the Interior Ministry's accounting of police equipment as unreliable.

Here in Italy, Razzi expressed puzzlement at the Iraqi officials' circumvention of U.S. supply routes.

``It seems strange that a pro-Western government, supported by the U.S. Army and other NATO countries on its own territory, would seek Russian or Chinese weapons through questionable channels,'' the anti-Mafia prosecutor wrote in seeking the arrest warrant that short-circuited the complex deal.

[rodeodance]

9. .Here in Italy, Razzi expressed puzzlement at the Iraqi officials' circumvention of U.S. supply rout

....Here in Italy, Razzi expressed puzzlement at the Iraqi officials' circumvention of U.S. supply routes.

``It seems strange that a pro-Western government, supported by the U.S. Army and other NATO countries on its own territory, would seek Russian or Chinese weapons through questionable channels,'' the anti-Mafia prosecutor wrote in seeking the arrest warrant that short-circuited the complex deal.

[rodeodance]

10. Baghdad official ADMITS they sought the weapons!

,,,,,,In Baghdad, the Interior Ministry wouldn't discuss the AK-47 transaction on the record. But a senior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity, acknowledged it had sought the weapons through al-Handal.

Asked about the irregular channels used, he said the ministry ``doesn't ask the supplier how these weapons are obtained.''

[Xipe Totec]

15. Remember this Doonesbury Cartoon?

[rodeodance]

17. ha has. thanks.

[ocd liberal]

25. I never saw that Thanks!!

[lyonn]

11. Let me get this straight, we have lost thousands of guns

in Iraq in the last year or two or??. Article says we have a contract for weapons for the Iraqis in power for protection (did I read that right?) and now Italy is providing Lots of Weapons.? What about all the bold statements that Iran is the evil one providing the weapons killing our own. I am so confused. Read the whole article, awesome. Proof the liars are lying to the liars.

Should we leave now while we can?

[Xipe Totec]

12. Meanwhile, Nouri al-Maliki plays footsie under the table with Iran

Anybody who's still on our side, DUCK and TAKE COVER! :scared:

[rodeodance]

14. it is hardly under the table: they signed a joint pipeline deal during this trip

[lyonn]

30. We were all wondering where Maliki was spending his vacation

Do they have nice beaches there? Did he get in on a vacation special? Nope, they offered him fresh water, showers, toilets and free of those pesky bombings in the Green Zone. Thirty fun days in the Sun and Sand.

After george is gone from office, all of us here on DU will be awed and amazed at the publics' response when all the BS incompetance that has gone on since 9-11 is revealed. This article is an example of incompetance that boggles the mind. This admin. has no clue what they are doing.

[ohio2007]

27. those guns were not lost, they were just "recycled" and "resold" to the Iraqi government. Too bad

the Italians broke up the deal.
Now those same arms will be back on the market for a third time

[rodeodance]

16. the ministry "doesn't ask the supplier how these weapons are obtained.".........

..........In Baghdad, the Interior Ministry wouldn't discuss the AK-47 transaction on the record. But a senior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity, acknowledged it had sought the weapons through al-Handal.

Asked about the irregular channels used, he said the ministry "doesn't ask the supplier how these weapons are obtained."............

[wordpix]

37. no doubt some of our corporate war profiteers are supplying the arms

Anything to make money. :sarcasm:

[Decruiter]

18. This can't be good. Do we have any one to stand up for the "rule of law" anywhere in this

land of misbegotten fools? God or higher power or whatever you believe to believe in, there just has to be a better way.

What is the definition of insanity again? Keep on doing.....

[wordpix]

38. no, 'rule of law" in this case is what BigOil wants & that's to keep this war going until

it secures the oil. That means they'll be sending troops forever unless the DEMS stop these greedy nutcases.

[xchrom]

19. so -- will this back channels deal be in the september report?

and what deals have gone throguh before now?

i mean -- this was probably not cooked up over night -- i'm guessing a little more probing would find more these deals already completed.

[southerncrone]

21. How many of these guns do you suppose already entered Iraq & killed

our American military men & women?

How can we allow this farce of a war to continue another day!!!???!!!:banghead:

[ClintonTyree]

22. Does that mean we bomb Italy now?

President for Life Generalisimo Benito Bush....."You're either with us, or you're with the terra'ists". :shrug: Maybe the Italians had better start practicing their air-raid drills? :shrug:

[Disturbed]

24. al Maliki will no doubt cite Exec. Priv. regarding an Investigation.

Since the Iraqi Parliament is out of vacation this little FUBAR will slide down the memory hole. The deals that al Maliki is making with Iran seems to be a bit of conflict of interest with the US Occupier's plans regarding the oil flow. Fiasco is the only word for this situation.

[ohio2007]

26. Looks like Putin is laughing all the way to the bank with this arms deal

excerpts from the original article;


snip

The Italians sent several offers of various types and quantities of rifles, with photos included. The negotiating focused on the source of the weapons: The Iraqi middlemen said their buyer insisted they be Russian-made, but the Italians wanted to sell AK-47s made in China, where they had better contacts.

"We are in a hurry with this deal," an impatient Waleed Noori al-Handal, Jordan-based general manager of the Iraqi firm, wrote the Italians on Nov. 13 in one of the e-mails seen by AP.

snip


By December, the Italians, having found a Bulgarian broker, were offering Russian-made goods: 50,000 AKM rifles, an improved version of the AK-47; 50,000 AKMS rifles, the same gun with folding stock; and 5,000 PKM machine guns.

The Iraqis quibbled over the asking price, $39.7 million, but seemed satisfied. The Italians were set for a $6.6 million profit, the court documents show, and were already discussing air transport for the weapons. At this point prosecutor Razzi acted, seeking an arrest warrant from a Perugia court.


snip

The at-large fifth man, Vittorio Dordi, 42, was believed to be in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he apparently is involved in the diamond trade. Italian authorities were seeking information on him from the African country.

In the parallel Libya case, the Italians allegedly paid two Libyan Defense Ministry officials about $500,000 in kickbacks to speed that transaction for Chinese-made assault rifles. It isn't known whether such bribes were a factor in the Iraq deal. No Libyans or Iraqis are known to have been detained in connection with the cases.

snip


"It seems strange that a pro-Western government, supported by the U.S. Army and other NATO countries on its own territory, would seek Russian or Chinese weapons through questionable channels," the anti-Mafia prosecutor wrote in seeking the arrest warrant that short-circuited the complex deal.



http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070812/D8QVLVCG0.html

and US arms manufacturers are left out of these deals !

/sarc

[AntiFascist]

28. I can't stand the (strategy of) tension n/t

[TheLastMohican]

33. Russia doesn't produce AK47

any longer. It is probably a cheap knock off Bulgarian copy.
If Russia was to get a royalty for every AK47 which is mentioned around the world, Mikhail Kalashnikov would be richer than Bill Gates by 10 times.

[happyslug]

34. The Russians DO produce the AKM-47

The difference between the AK-74 and AK-47 is roughly one of caliber (The AK-74 uses a 5.45x39 mm Round instead of the 7.62x 39 Round of the Ak-47).

Technically the AK-47 has NOT been produced since c1959, when it was replaced by the AKM-47. The Ak was designed to be made through the use of Stamped parts, but Russian in 1947 did NOT have the capability so it was Re-designed to be Machined Tooled. In the late 1950s Russian Steel Stamping ability had improved so the AK was modified again to reflect this new production techniques and out came the AKM-47. The AK-74 was adopted in 1974, but was just the AKM modified to fire the 5.45x39 Round.

Now in the mid-1990s the Russians adopted a new rifle, but it has NOT yet completely replaced the AK-74. Furthermore the AK is still in production (Through now called Ak-103). It is a product improved AK and recently been purchased by Venezuela.

More on the AK:
http://kalashnikov.guns.ru/

List of presently made Kalashnikov Rifles:
# AK101 - the 5,56 mm Kalashnikov submachine gun for cartridge 5,56x45 NATO
# AK102 - the same but with a short barrel
# AK103 - the 7,62 mm Kalashnikov submachine gun for cartridge 7,62x39
# AK104 - the same but with a short barrel
# AK105 - 5,45 mm Kalashnikov submachine gun with a short barrel for cartridge 5,45x39.

[Peace Patriot]

29. The Iraqi purchashers said the weapons deal had been okayed by the U.S.

U.S. command denied it.

Hm-m-m.

The company involved was Al Handl, in DUBAI (where Halliburton is now headquarterd), a player in the Iraq "oil for food" scandal.

Don't know much about that scandal. But I'm already smelling a Cheney rat.

-------------

You know what I'm wondering? I'm wondering if the U.S. oil corps are pissed off at Cheney/Rumsfeld for making such a botch of Iraq. They couldn't even get the oil contracts signed by the toady government behind the bunker in the Green Zone. Now chaos ensues, and maybe those oil execs, once Cheney's pals all cozy in their secret "divide up the map" meeting back in spring '01, are beginning to realize that it was ALWAYS about the licit and illicit weapons trade, and war profiteering, to Cheney and Rumsfeld.

[wordpix]

39. that is my theory right now, too, PP

:hi:

[Peace Patriot]

31. Anybody know the number of weapons the Pentagon "lost" in Iraq--according to that recent

report? I think it was in the 150,000 to 200,000 range--also assault rifles and machine guns, or something similar to this (this deal was for 50,000 "improved" Russian AK-47 rifles and 5,000 machine guns).

BushWorld: just one big arms bazaar.

[benEzra]

32. 110,000 European made AK-47's and 80,000 handguns, IIRC. (n/t)

[dipsydoodle]

35. The Shrubkid wanted to give them their freedoms

looks like they've graciously accepted that..............lol.

[Javaman]

36. victor bout. nt