Iraq-Namese Buy Weapons from Communist China

With 160,000 US troops in Iraq-Nam, one would think that the US could force the Green Zone government to buy weapons from America’s arms manufacturers. For better or for worse, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Once again, America’s industrial might is being overshadowed by the Communist Chinese dictatorship. On Wednesday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani announced that his government had purchased $100 million of light weapons for its police from the police-state in the Middle Kingdom. Apparently, the Americans were too slow to deliver the goods.

Naturally, the Iraq-Namese would like to make their own weapons. President Talabani, though, admitted, “The capacity of the factories here are not enough to provide us quickly with all that we need, even for the army. One of our demands is to accelerate the delivery of the arms to the Iraqi army.” He stated that only 1 in 5 Iraq-Namese police officers carries a weapon.

So why doesn’t the Iraq-Namese government go to the Americans, who after all have 160,000 troops in the country? Well, back in 2004 and in 2005, the US bought 185,000 AK-47s from an Eastern European country that to this day wants its name kept out of the deal. It was part of a $2.8 billion weapons package. Why AK-47s? The Iraq-Namese turned down US-made M-16s. The Kalashnikov works better.

What is particularly troubling about this deal for Washington is the inability to control the weaponry. Of the 185,000 AK-47s that were sent to Iraq-Nam earlier, the General Accounting Office says 100,000 went missing. They are, no doubt, in the hands of various militias. With the arrival of the Chinese weapons, who knows where the firepower will be targeted?

Moreover, this is a perfect example of the Red Chinese flexing their muscles. Up until the last decade or so, the ChiComs were concerned more about internal development of the economy and less about global affairs. They are now active in Africa (e.g., Zimbabwe), Latin America (Venezuela), and now Iraq-Nam. They are perfectly entitled to do this as a sovereign power. However, this sale appears to have caught the Bush administration flat footed, suggesting that no one has considered what to do about a more active China. Or perhaps the Busheviks believe that all the bad communists are in Cuba.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home