[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?

[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)

[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.

[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.

[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.

[TheRightGuy]

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

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

[hchutch]

The article posted supports NONE of the claims I see being made here.

I hate to say this, but the article seems to confirm the theory of a Syrian/Ukranian straw purchase arrangement more than Vladimir Putin's guilt.

Back in `98, I remember one of the former Warsaw Pact nations losing a Scud that was not located until it showed up at Customs as the property of a friggin' COLLECTOR! Privately owned MiG-21s are getting to be commonplace (one was auctioned on Ebay), and are sold cheap. For the price of a high-end BMW, I bet I could get a fully-loaded Su-27 Flanker. For the price of buying a home, make it a Tu-22M3 Backfire.

I think we're going to start finding out just how bad the leaks were in Russia over the 90s, and a LOT of that was with Boris Yeltsin in charge.

[taxed2death]

Kinda funny, I picked this info off a Russian web site over a week ago.....the fact they they had these missiles, and got blown out of the water here on FR when I posted a link to the web site.

Oh well, I guess it wasn't "propaganda" after all, hugh folks?

[ewing]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/880388/posts/

[cinFLA]

Slow down.

"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."

[Stavka2]

Go reread the article, it says Ukrainians...part of the Great Coalition. You knee jerk Russian haters can't even read your own propaganda.

[UCANSEE2]

Finding out that International Weapons dealers had sold Russian made weapons is about as interesting as finding out that International weapons dealers had sold American made weapons to .... (you name it).
Hell, our own bastard-ex-president was giving the Chinese our military secrets.

Those of you that believe Putin was personally or as a representative of the RUSSIAN government selling weapons directly to Saddam (or door to door in Baghdad), qualifies to be a landmine prober (OR JAVELIN CATCHER) for our troops.

[mikhailovich]

I will be the first on your bandwagon when proof determines the RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT authorized or knew of these sales. The report clearly says Ukrainian arms dealers (Ukrainians are not Russians) and Syrian generals, or the Syrian Government itself. It doesn't say the Russian Government. None of these reports have pinned illegal arms sales to Iraq, on the Russian Government.

I take back all the nice things I said about you.