Iraq secretly bought 1,000 Kornet missiles: Pentagon (those M1A1s WERE hit by Kornets!)

The Economic Times ^ | MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2003 10:30:08 AM | The Economic Times

[Smogger]

NEW YORK: Iraqis have secretly bought as many as a thousand Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles which are lightweight, very powerful and easy-to-use, Pentagon officials claimed.

The sellers are Ukrainian arms dealers and possibly some entrepreneurial Syrian generals or the Syrian government itself, the officials were quoted as saying by Newsweek. They reportedly sent Baghdad some 500 Kornets in January.

The Kornet anti-tank missiles were used to attack two US tanks, both Abrams M1A1s during the ongoing war in Iraq. The first M1s ever destroyed by enemy fire in battle, they were caught in an ambush of the US Army's 3/7 Cavalry near As Samawah, on the west bank of the Euphrates River.

Two is not a large number and the invading forces have at least 650 tanks in Iraq with more on the way. But US officials, the magazine said, are worried about the skill or "at least the fanaticism" of the guerrilla fighters who sneaked up on the tanks driving a "technical," a jeep, under cover of a sandstorm.

Less than two weeks into the war, the magazine examined whether it started with enough force and whether Operation Iraqi Freedom risks blowing up into a Middle East War.

That scenario, once very remote, is no longer unthinkable, it said. Barring a sudden collapse of the Baathist regime - still a possibility, senior administration officials insist - the war in Iraq is about to get bloodier.

"Somewhere deep in his network of tunnels and bunkers," Saddam Hussein "is convinced he can win," not by defeating superior US forces on the battlefield, but merely by surviving while Islamic rage builds from Cairo to Islamabad, the magazine said quoting a senior US official.

With a show of "shock and awe," American might was supposed to overwhelm the Iraqis and crack Saddam Hussein's regime. Tipped off by a spy in his inner circle, the US military tried to kill him and his sons as they slept with a surprise "decapitation" strike on the first night of the war.

US officials were engaged in delicate secret talks with some of Saddam Hussein's henchmen which appear to have gone nowhere. Saddam Hussein is almost surely alive; the spy, according to a knowledgeable source, has been "compromised," meaning that he is probably dead.

When American soldiers began dying in ambushes from Iraqis pretending to surrender, it didn't take long for Washington officialdom to start leaking exculpatory memoranda.

One CIA memo made available to Newsweek was entitled "Iraq: Potential aRisks in Rear Areas." The paper warned of Saddam loyalists attacking American supply lines with "hit and run tactics" using "RPGs rocket-propelled grenades) and small arms."

The document was widely distributed at the Pentagon, though one intelligence official, Newsweek said, acknowledges that, given Washington's strange hothouse ways, the paper might have been more carefully read at the top if it had been stamped "TOP SECRET" instead of merely "SECRET."

Saddam Hussein's irregulars have adopted tricks from the Somali guerrillas, including firing from behind groups of women and children.

Saddam Hussein will try to increase the American death rate, possibly by ordering his commanders to use bio-chem weapons, the magazine said.

[hchutch]

I'm not sure if I have the number of divisions right or the number of BMPs per division correct, but if my ROUGH guesses are any indication, the Syrians could channel a TON of stuff to the Iraqis, and the Russians would get the blame if we were to rush to judgement on this. If the hand were to be played right, it would be perfect.

The onyl thing was I expected the Syrians to be slipping a lot of hand-me downs to Saddam, NOT stuff that's pretty new.

[Terriergal]

Time to get that northern/northeastern border sealed....

[PhilDragoo]

ELVIS IS FIGHTING ON OUR SIDE!

[hchutch]

Yeah, but if those CH-46 deathtraps are still around...

And even the Israelis might need fire support. :)

[PhilDragoo]

Russia sells arms to anyone who is against us.

Su-27s, Su-30s, Sovremennyys, Moskits, Kilos, etc. to our good friends and strategic allies in Beijing.

[PhilDragoo]

The Russians are not cowards.

Yet they conceal their sales to China.

[Poohbah]

Actually, they wouldn't.

The Syrian army is fairly powerful, IF it is concentrated. If they try to be strong on the Golan, the Mediterranean coast of Syria, AND the Syrian-Iraqi border, they're screwed, blewed, and tattooed six ways to Sunday.

[PhilDragoo]

I agree with you. Russia and France never sold "directly" (key word their people)to Iraq in the last 12 years.

William Saffire's NYT articles "French Connection I & II" demonstrated the cutouts used by France and China in arming Iraq.

[Poohbah]

Russia sells arms to anyone who is against us.

Su-27s, Su-30s, Sovremennyys, Moskits, Kilos, etc. to our good friends and strategic allies in Beijing.

That's because Clinton isn't selling them W-88s any longer.

Why does Russia arm our enemies?

Because our enemies can't buy American-made gear.

[hchutch]

Don't forget Lebanon.

Nice amount of coastline, and occupied by Syria, IIRC.

[Poohbah]

Lousy roadnet headed inshore.

Let 'em stick as many troops as they want there, they won't be able to get 'em back out without the mother of all f***in' traffic jams.

[hchutch]

And even then, the same may be against the express wishes of the government.

Why? Some mafiya goon has made an offer that couldn't be refused.

[PhilDragoo]

"Saddam Hussein's irregulars have adopted tricks from the Somali guerrillas, including firing from behind groups of women and children."

Another stroke of Arab bravery.

Then they fire mortars and machine guns at the thousands of men, women and children fleeing Basrah.

There is no death horrible enough to be just punishment for these criminals.

[hchutch]

True, but just the fact that you could hit through Lebanon... that adds to the coastline even more, and the Syrians would be forces to violate the principle of Mass (from the nine principles that a guy named Fuller outlined early in the last century) even more...

You split up the Syrian army and defeat it in detail. :)

[Poohbah]

Make the Syrians think you're headed back to Lebanon--GOOD.

Actually trying to head back to Lebanon--only good if the Syrians don't take your bait.

[hchutch]

Now, what could do a VERY good job of selling a move to Lebanon and getting the Syrians to bite on such a decoy...

Hmm... how did we freeze numerous Iraqi divisions in Gulf War I, aka Desert Storm?

We parked a couple of ships off the coast and had `em start pounding the CRAP out of some positions. Got to the point where the Iraqi troops surrendered to a drone!

[Poohbah]

Problem is, we don't have until 2005 to get those ships into something resembling seaworthiness, and we can't afford another PR problem from a powder explosion.

[sport]

They were protesting to albright.

A complete and total waste of time.

They could have spent the time used in composing and drafting the letter going out in the street and looking at the girl's legs and gotten the same results.

[sport]

This was when bill clinton was President.

Are you surprised?

[archy]

Many are angry that Putin has not come on board the Iraqi Express. I am too and afraid that this will weaken US/Russian ties. But I also remember Russia did not want us bombing Serbia and it was right about that.

I remember too the events of 1979, when Jimmy Carter and Zbiegniew Brezinski began giving Afghani jihadists weapons and training with which to kill Russians and down their aircraft. And now, since December 1994, the Russians have had troops battling the moslim jihadists in Chechnya. It appears we have some catching up to do with those who recognized their real enemies sooner.

-archy-/-