Posted on 08/12/2007 9:47:57 AM PDT by tobyhill
PERUGIA, Italy - In a hidden corner of Rome's busy Fiumicino Airport, police dug quietly through a traveler's checked baggage, looking for smuggled drugs. What they found instead was a catalog of weapons, a clue to something bigger.
Their discovery led anti-Mafia investigators down a monthslong trail of telephone and e-mail intercepts, into the midst of a huge black-market transaction, as Iraqi and Italian partners haggled over shipping more than 100,000 Russian-made automatic weapons into the bloodbath of Iraq.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Iraqi PM calls for crisis summit
Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, has called for a summit of the nation’s main political factions in an attempt to break Iraq’s political paralysis.
In recent weeks almost all Sunni members of the cabinet have quit. Others are boycotting meetings, leaving at least 17 cabinet seats empty.
Many of them have accused Mr Maliki of sidelining them.
A BBC correspondent says the crisis is worrying for the US, which wants to see progress before withdrawing troops.
“I have called the political leaders for a meeting to discuss the main issues in the political process. The first meeting may happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” Mr Maliki announced on Sunday.
A senior Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, has already arrived in Baghdad for the talks.
It is expected he will play a key role in the negotiations, says the BBC’s Richard Galpin in Baghdad.
In particular he will try to get the Sunni parties to decide whether to rejoin the government or go into opposition.
Coalition weakened
Many Iraqi MPs are not in the Iraqi capital at present because parliament is in its summer recess, which does not end until next month.
Mr Maliki has been unable to push forward with his plans for national reconciliation without the support of the country’s various factions.
His shaky coalition has been weakened by the withdrawal of the main Sunni bloc, the Accordance Front, and Shia followers of cleric Moqtada Sadr.
Last week another five ministers, loyal to former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, began a boycott.
The United Nations Security Council last week approved an expansion of the UN’s role in Iraq.
The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said he hoped international mediators could play a positive role in facilitating dialogue between rival factions in Iraq.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6943120.stm
>Iraqi government officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of the U.S.
WTF are these numbnuts even thinking?
Oh. . . . So it's all Bush's fault.
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.
hmm
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1783539/posts
Italy foils ‘arms for Iraq plot’
bbc news ^ | 12 February 2007 | Christian Fraser
Posted on 02/12/2007 2:48:18 PM EST by Mount Athos
Italian police say they have broken up a major arms trafficking ring that was planning to supply thousands of weapons to insurgents in Iraq.
They say the group involved had connections in Malta, Russia, Libya and China and some of those arrested were wealthy businessmen working in exports.
It was a mistake to have the Iraqis haggle over a constitution, they should have chosen 3 secular leaders from the 3 groups and told them to write it themselves, with a strong executive. And then impose it. The way it is now, it is a very weak executive, which only works in a society with a high and long tradition of democracy.
BTTT..
Iraqi arms deal from Russia ~~ PING!
Thanks Starwise!
Good for Italy!
That US Dollars are buying weapons that are in turn used against American servicemen?
Who’s fault is it, if not Bush’s?
Surprise, surprise. NOT!
“It was a mistake to have the Iraqis haggle over a constitution, they should have chosen 3 secular leaders from the 3 groups and told them to write it themselves, with a strong executive.”
Partition. 3 parts. One is Shiite, the next Sunni, and the third, Kurd.
Did you read the news story?
(Quoting from the story) ”Their discovery led anti-Mafia investigators down a monthslong trail of telephone and e-mail intercepts, into the midst of a huge black-market transaction, as Iraqi and Italian partners haggled over shipping more than 100,000 Russian-made automatic weapons into the bloodbath of Iraq.”
(And again)”The Associated Press has learned that Iraqi government officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of the U.S. Baghdad command”
So . . . the answer would be: Black-Marketeers, perhaps with Mafia connections, for one. Iraqis and Italians for another. Russians. Then there is the always popular ‘Iraqi government officials.’
It would not surprise me if the fine hand of UN official corruption was eventually detected in this operation. It’s not in the story, but it fits the pattern of recent events.
But, HEY! be my guest, if it takes blaming Bush to give you the big “O”
Oh that would be suprising.....not.
Dollars to donuts the Iranians are up to their necks in this.
L
It was about 5 months ago.
BTTT
Oh, the Iranians! Of course, the Iranians. How could I have left out the Iranians. They have their fine hand in every bit of mischief coming out of the Middle East and the Near East.
My bad.
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