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]

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.

Remember this report of the two US tanks destroyed by RPG's and the initial reports of the use of Kornets? Well here is your confirmation. The dirty Russian dogs.

[PhiKapMom]

You forgot to say that "Putin knew nothing about this!" That is the standard mantra around here! (sarcasm) The dirty Russian dogs.

I agree with your statement! Getting very tired of the defense of Putin and the Russians by some on here! How many more times do we have to be shown Russian equipment in Iraq before some people wake up?

[Naspino]

Saddam Hussein is almost surely alive; the spy, according to a knowledgeable source, has been "compromised," meaning that he is probably dead.

Propaganda. The above is the tipoff.

[1Old Pro]

Wouldn't the U.N. be deeply saddened by this?? Afterall, they administered the oil for food program which forbid Saddam from buying any weapons....or so they thought.

Shheeesh, another nail in the coffin of the U.N.

[Poohbah]

I agree with your statement! Getting very tired of the defense of Putin and the Russians by some on here! How many more times do we have to be shown Russian equipment in Iraq before some people wake up?

You're going to need more than some antitank missiles getting smuggled, or you're going to have to jump all over President Bush over TOW and Stinger missiles being smuggled out of the US.

One commentator described post-1991 Russia as "The Yard Sale at the End of History."

[Calpernia]

WHAT REALLY pisses me off (pardon the language) is that there is ENOUGH public access to this information. Here is all the weaponery that the UN SECURITY COUNCIL does know about:

http://www.iraqwatch.org/search/search_db.asp?qu=Kornet+anti-tank+missiles&sc=bothdbt&sm=any

This site does the web crawl through the UN documents and more. Look at all the weaponery! Look at the countries that illegally sold them stuff. This link I posted is just a search on Missiles. Type in a countries name in the SEARCH Suppliers link, ie, China, France, Russia, Germany.... They are all listed. They all know. But the media does not do research. They get better ratings with propaganda!

(/rant)

[11B3]

Ruck Fussia.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Iraq has been supplied with arms by the Soviets for decades.

This has not been directly linked to the Russian government as of yet. How can we have been worried for years about the out-of-control nature of the former Soviets military assets and not understand that some to these transfers and possibily all have been carried out by the criminal gangs which plague that nation?

This appears to have been of that nature but we will know more as days go on. Syria may be more deeply involved than Russia as Powell's recent comments imply.

[Maeve]

Make the Russians pay and pray for mercy.

[MississippiMan]

I have a good friend who's Russian. Lives and works here now. He and I have discussed the Cold War before, what it was like for him growing up there during the Reagan era, etc. I e-mailed him last week and asked him what he thought about the war. His answer blew me away: He thinks the war is all a pretext for cancelling existing oil contracts. This is a VERY intelligent man, mind you, probably genius level, but apparently the brain can't calculate beyond some simple engrained ideas.

MM

[RetiredArmy]

Putin was KGB. I still call it the Soviet Union. He is KGB. He is communist. A tiger does not get rid of its stripes. This guy has not got rid of his communism. He is still a commie. All their leaders are.

[TheLooseThread]

The M1A1s were hit in the rear with the missle. The iraqis must have waited for the tanks to pass before firing beause the russians told them it had to be fired at the rear. They didn't take the shot on the flank so the missle probably wouldn't work there.

So, most likely, they are only effective from the rear.

Even though the tanks had support from bradleys no one could see because of a sandstorm. The moving column didn't see the enemy they had passed.

So barring more moving columns in blinding sandstorms it may not be that much of an issue.

[Rams82]

"and possibly some entrepreneurial Syrian generals or the Syrian government itself,"

Things aren't looking too good for Syria...

[ex-Texan]

*Bump* but we at FR have known the Russkies, Frogs, Krauts and ChiComs were up to no good for years.

[SwatTeam]

How many more times do we have to be shown Russian equipment in Iraq before some people wake up?

I agree. I tried to give the Russians the benefit of the doubt until this war started and their duplicity was highlighted for all to see. Now I distrust them as much as I have always distrusted the Germans and French. Some of the civilians in both of those societies may not be as anti-American as their leaders but I would bet that most of them are. Anyone who has ever been to Europe and heard their snide and hateful remarks would realize that the Nazi party of old has not been defeated, they've just been underground for all these years and are raising their ugly heads now.

[Right Angler]

But, but, the Russians are our friends now. They hung an "Open Under New Management" sign and changed the stationary and everything.

[TheRightGuy]

You forgot to say that "Putin knew nothing about this!"

You also forgot to mention that Tom Dasshole was "saddened."

[B-Chan]

This sounds like the Russians getting payback for all the Stingers we sold to the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan. I imagine whomever orchestrated the deal is sitting in his dacha chuckling derisively at the news of our losses.

I doubt, however, we'll lose many more M1s to teenagers firing Kornets from pickup trucks. What those .50s would do to an unarmored light truck and its occupants at close range would be stomach-churning.

[Darksheare]

Can we kick off Frag-a-palooza now?

[Poohbah]

The question is, "was this done as part of official Russian government policy?"

The jury is out on that question. One of the pet worries of the post-Cold War national security establishment is trying to figure out who is in charge of Russia's military--or even if anyone is in charge...