No one ever mentions what the registration requirements are in Iraq, or other relevent details.
It's not the first time this has been brought up in the press- last week it appeared frequently enough to look like it was an intentional talking point distributed for the seminar caller crowd. Since it appeared in different papers among correspondants who are allowed to be in Iraq because of their malleability, and who are escorted at all times by Iraqi intelligence officers, it is most likely a point directly from the Iraqis, who are trying to play on western fears of coalition troops having to engage in house-to-house fighting. As such it is unreliable information.
Note that they have paraded around their fattened home guard for the cameras as well, and claimed they have volunteer suicide bombers lined up. It's all an effort to imply that the civilian population will fight to the death to keep Hussein in power.
They won't of course- because if they were really as well armed as the government agents claim, they would not be living in fear of Hussein's security forces. They live in fear of hussein's security forces becasue they know every detail of the life of each Iraqi. They know the family links and friendships, employment history, etc, of each citizen- even of dissidents who have long since gone overseas. This is nothing new- it has gone on for decades. That's how Hussein's agents were able to assasinate dissidents abroad and how they were able to find the family members of those they blackmailed. They have literally registered the people- and having done so, knowing and controlling who is armed, how well they are supplied, and whether or not they ever get to practice is an easy matter. Everything is regulated by the one party in power. Unusual purchases or buys deemed excessive will be duly noted, investigated, and punished, and there is no legal defense for anyone the government selects for arrest on any charges, or no charges at all.
And in a land without free speech and right of assembly, gun ownership does little good for you cannot rally your fellow citizens. Gun ownership in Iraq, owing to the lack of basic liberties, limits militias to a membership of one or at most a small family unit. The inability to assemble without drawing the ire of party officials or government prevents citizen's militias from forming and threatening the power of those in charge.
At a key-cutting shop the owners – Bashim Talib Hassun and Mahar Kardim Ali – make the usual noises about fighting American aggression, and making sure the enemy suffer. But with what? The government had been saying every Iraqi has his own gun, as the US and British forces will find to their cost. "They are after our oil", said Mr Ali, a former infantry officer. "They want to dominate everyone. They will find 25 million Iraqis ready to defy them".
Note that no Iraqi has been taking reporters in to see their gun collection, showing off their stacked and packed calendars, heading out for skeet or a day of paintball, or are behaving in any way like gun owners. As if the photos of gun-toting Iraqis we've been treated to lately show anything resembling the enthusiasm of the palestinians, nor do they look like they even know how to handle the weapons they have been loaned for the duration of the photo op.
When asked, Mr Hassun, 29, and Mr Ali, 33, insisted they had weapons. When pressed, they claimed they had "machine-guns". But they did not appear to have any further details on the make, the type or the calibre. Mr Hassun said they were Russian-made, while Mr Ali thought they were Iraqi.
They don't sound like gun owners to me...