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Fury over Austrian 'super' rifles for Iranian
Daily Telegraph ^ | 14/01/2006 | Thomas Harding

Posted on 01/14/2006 12:07:20 AM PST by ScaniaBoy

Britain and America are furious with Austria for exporting to Iran 800 sniper rifles that could be used against their troops in Iraq.

HS50 Steyr-Mannlicher .50 calibre rifles can pierce body armour from up to a mile, shoot down helicopters and penetrate Humvee troop carriers that have not been fully reinforced.

The weapons are highly accurate and fire a round called an armour-piercing incendiary, a bullet that the Iranians manufacture.

There are fears in the Pentagon that some will reach insurgents fighting allied forces in Iraq.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard is suspected of passing on bomb-making technology to Iraqi terrorists responsible for infra-red bombs that have killed 10 British soldiers.

A Foreign Office spokesman said there were "serious concerns" over the rifle sale and London had protested to Vienna.

"Although we did make our worries known, the sale has unfortunately gone ahead and these weapons could now fall into the wrong hands," he said.

Iran allegedly bought the rifles to combat drug smugglers pouring through the borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The order, worth an estimated £8 million, was placed with Steyr last year and the company was given government permission to export the weapons.

A spokesman for Austria's interior ministry said there was no reason to stop the deal.

Iran is said to be re-arming after a £455 million deal with Russia for missiles and radar to ward off any air strikes on its nuclear facilities.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: austria; banglist; euroweenies; iran; iraq; steyrmannlicher; terrorists
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To: FreedomCalls
Grrrr! My blood is so hot I could rip a jihadist in two!
21 posted on 01/14/2006 12:58:23 AM PST by endthematrix (None dare call it ISLAMOFACISM!)
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To: Lurker

i KNOW that...i was raised near the US/Canada border in Washington state and spent a lot of time making sure those Russians weren't sneaking down through Alaska...lol


22 posted on 01/14/2006 12:58:48 AM PST by ferri (Be Politically Incorrect: Support the Constitution!)
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To: ScaniaBoy

So what would you expect from the country that gave the world Adolph Hitler?


23 posted on 01/14/2006 1:09:35 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (Peace Begins in the Womb)
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To: ScaniaBoy

The Iranian round sounds like a takeoff on the Russian API projectile. This bullet technology is very effective. Perhaps the round makes a full penetration of 5/8" thick standard high tensile "rolled homogeneous armor" at two hundred yards.

Not good.


24 posted on 01/14/2006 1:54:05 AM PST by Iris7 (Dare to be pigheaded! Stubborn! "Tolerance" is not a virtue!)
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To: ScaniaBoy

Iran openly declares their desire to "wipe Israel off the map" and the Austrians sell them sophisticated weapons.

I am not surprised but still fully disgusted.


25 posted on 01/14/2006 2:01:34 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper (ETERNAL SHAME on the Treasonous and Immoral Democrats!)
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To: ScaniaBoy

This is from February 2005

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/005000.php

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?prod=52735&session=dae.17094747.1137234884.Q8jTxMOa9dUAAF7Fm1E&modele=jdc_1


26 posted on 01/14/2006 2:34:06 AM PST by Khashayar (No Banana Allowed!)
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To: Lurker

The border between Armenia and Iran has a great fence and it has military guarding it.
I have a picture of the border area.


27 posted on 01/14/2006 2:39:29 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (“Don't approach a Bull from the front, a Horse from the back, or a Fool from any side.”)
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To: endthematrix

dunna rip Pvt. Achmed Dipstick. Rip the Austrians; specifically the Austrian gub'ment.
Perhaps strategically inferior to the Russian-Venezolano deal for weaps, this is a simple "Obladi oblada life goes on" moment for the sacher-torte volken in Vienna..
It is very much a serious tactical threat to L/Cpl Snuffy McNasty in the field.
Perhaps NCA should consider some diplomatic-relations variation of the kid's game of "Hot Potato-Hot Potato-DROP!"
Respecting their dignity, quietely advise the Austrians that they're a "hot-potato" and we're playing their game.
Jerk a knot in some Viennese culito...
And the next time the Austrian border is threatened, call the Germans, they know the drill. Or call some French Expeditionary force...enough taxi being available, they'll deliver support analogous to a pizza shop..
...and then there's "ghostbusters"..


28 posted on 01/14/2006 2:44:40 AM PST by Gunny P (Gunny P)
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To: ScaniaBoy

what a bunch of socialist democrat hypocrites.

They will gladly sell terrorists nations lethal weapons, but when Arnold lets a gang member who killed 5 people be executed in CA, they got nuts and remove his name from a stadium.


29 posted on 01/14/2006 2:48:52 AM PST by Proud_USA_Republican (We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. - Hillary Clinton)
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To: ScaniaBoy

http://www.army-technology.com/contractors/machine_guns/mannlicher/mannlicher5.html

lets see, thats $17,762 per rifle, so I'd guess they're for the best of their best revolutionary guard, to help repulse an invasion. That's like 10 years pay for the average iraqi, so they probably won't end up with insurgents.


30 posted on 01/14/2006 2:58:42 AM PST by ds91
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To: FreedomCalls

Makes me wish we had used massive amounts of nuclear weapons on them over there.. Why didn't we?


31 posted on 01/14/2006 3:03:55 AM PST by Lauretij2
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To: endthematrix

I wouldn't have traded a single American life for all of those people over there.

We should've done a strategic attack. Think Cold War style. This getting picked off stuff is idiotic.


32 posted on 01/14/2006 3:09:42 AM PST by Lauretij2
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To: ScaniaBoy
Pull our troops out of Europe! Why do we spend our money to defend those sorry people over there.
33 posted on 01/14/2006 3:57:17 AM PST by liliesgrandpa (The Republican Party simply can't do anything without that critical 100-seat Senate majority.)
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To: bybybill
I can`t believe that the average citizen in Austria wants stuff like this to happen.

Hmmm. Well, if it were up to me, the USA, the UK, France, Israel et al wouldn't sell weapons to a lot of people that we sell them to. Iran wouldn't have American war planes right now for example.

But that's just me.

34 posted on 01/14/2006 3:58:35 AM PST by Prodigal Son
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To: liliesgrandpa

Austria is not part of NATO.


35 posted on 01/14/2006 4:58:35 AM PST by Tommyjo
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To: CarrotAndStick
The North Koreans and the Chinese have provided Iran with the missiles.

Then, since the Austrians ignore the threat their sniper rifles pose to our troops, we should ignore the threat the operational and soon to be operational missles that will pose a threat to western Europe by not including them in our missle defense system. Seems like a fair trade to me. Tit for tat. Maybe when a western European city is flattened under a mushroom cloud of an Iranian nuke they'll recognize the error of their ways......

36 posted on 01/14/2006 5:36:06 AM PST by Thermalseeker
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To: Prodigal Son

Those American warplanes, particularly the F-14s, most likely aren't airworthy anymore. And they were sold to Iran during the Shah's era.

And they certainly don't have any decent munitions that can compete with current American technology. Even stuff from Russia. If it comes to an air campaign, they will be just as vulnerable as Iraq was- maybe more so.


37 posted on 01/14/2006 5:42:48 AM PST by ovrtaxt (I looked for common sense with a telescope. All I could see was the moon of Uranus.)
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To: ScaniaBoy

Steyr wanted to sell these rifles on the US civilian market, like Ronnie Barrett. However, our own government and BATFE denied them the import permits because they're "not for sporting purposes".

Steyr agreed not to sell these to the Iranians if they could sell them to American citizens and our government declined. Steyr, not wanting to go out of business, followed through.


38 posted on 01/14/2006 5:52:00 AM PST by SJSAMPLE
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To: Khashayar

Thanks.

Fantastic Daily Telegraph is just 11 months behind the net - Dinosaur media is getting bogged down in the swamp.


39 posted on 01/14/2006 6:06:48 AM PST by ScaniaBoy (Part of the Right Wing Research & Attack Machine)
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To: ScaniaBoy

If they show up in Iraq, we'll know where they came from.


40 posted on 01/14/2006 6:09:39 AM PST by Brilliant
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