Nicaragua says it has 2,000 anti-aircraft missiles

ASSOCIATED PRESS ^ | 030901

[XBob]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20030901-0838-nicaragua-missiles.html

Nicaragua says it has 2,000 anti-aircraft missiles

ASSOCIATED PRESS 8:38 a.m. September 1, 2003

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua's army chief, urged by Washington to destroy surface-to-air missiles, says his country has 2,000 of the missiles worth more than $100 million.

In remarks published Monday by the newspaper La Prensa, Gen. Javier Carrion McDonough expressed understanding of U.S. concerns about such weapons in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

"It is said that there are between 200,000 and 500,000 missiles around the world in the hands of armed forces or whatever," he said.

Carrion said Nicaragua gave the U.S. a report on its SAM-7 weapons following the 2001 terror attacks "at their request and as a gesture of good will."

During an Aug. 12 visit to Nicaragua, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers, said that SAM-7 missiles are dangerous weapons that could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Two days later, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Norman Caldera said his country might destroy the missiles if that would not disrupt the military balance of power in Central America.

The Soviet Union supplied the missiles to Nicaragua's left-wing Sandinista government of the 1980s during an era in which Central America had become a Cold War battleground.

Carrion estimated their value at between $100 million and $200 million.

Nicaragua has preserved its stockpile in the face of territorial disputes with neighboring Honduras, which commands a relatively powerful air force.

U.S. concerns about Nicaragua's missiles increased after the discovery that 3,000 Soviet-supplied Kalashnikov rifles from Nicaragua's stores wound up in the hands of a right-wing Colombian paramilitary group.

Asked about U.S. requests for destruction of the missiles and for a Nicaraguan troop contribution to humanitarian efforts in Iraq, Carrion said the United States has asked a lot "and they don't give."

He said he had heard from government officials that U.S. aid "has not been sufficient" as the country tries to overcome the divisions of the Sandinista era and as it faces a regional free trade pact with the United States.

[XBob]

somehow we all seem to have missed his.

particularly, in light of 'our' leaders desire to have no borders in the western hemisphere.

[SandRat]

So tell me, are all 2,000 in one place scattered in more than one place? What kind of buildings are they in? Oh, just asking.

pssst! as soon as he gives the locations and building types launch a target mission for each site. If we do the hit at nite we can simply claim that the warheads of the missles cooked off due to poor storage practices.

[malia]

bump

[XBob]

4-"Huh-whaa?"


You've got me - I just accidentally ran across the article while searching for something else, and thought it peculiar that with all the terrorism alerts, we should have heard about this from somewhere before.

It is from a san Diego newspaper site.

[Yeti]

"Gen. Javier Carrion McDonough"

French and Scottish family maybe? I (mc)Donough.