Thursday, October 02, 2003

Meanwhile, in Iraq, as UPI reported a couple of days ago, we've utterly lost control of the guns:

The U.S.-led coalition forces are losing a bidding war for sophisticated weapons still widely available in Iraq, nearly six months after the fall of Baghdad. Anti-occupation groups and supporters of the old regime are financially able and willing to spend more for weapons, a series of interviews with underground arms dealers by United Press International has determined.

Adding to the concern, private contractors involved in security consulting to companies operating in Iraq say the street prices for some weapons appear to be increasing, indicating weapons are being bought at a higher rate than previously during the occupation.

Some security experts, who asked they not be named, say the higher prices for common military staples such as the AK-47 assault rifle could indicate an impeding attack by anti-U.S. forces and supporters of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party regime.

In the case of sophisticated weapons such as the Russian-made SA-7 and SA-9 surface-to-air missiles, which are portable and operated by one man, the coalition forces are being largely outbid by arms dealers helping the resistance....


We're being outbid for arms, though one arms dealer, Mazen Mikhael, says that may not be the whole problem:

"No, they have nothing to do with the prices," he said. "(The Americans) started (fighting the arms dealing) wrong. They let people sell weapons and buy heavy weapons. So no one pays any attention to them after that."

Well, of course we did. WWCHD?*

*(What Would Charlton Heston Do?)

(Thanks to Rational Enquirer for the link.)

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