Thursday, October 04, 2007
Iraq orders $100 mn. worth of light military equipment from China
(Reuters) - Iraq has ordered light military equipment from China worth $100 million because the United States is unable to meet Baghdad's requirements, the Washington Post reported President Jalal Talabani as saying. The weapons are intended for Iraq's police where only one in five officers are armed, it quoted Talabani as saying in an article published on its Web site on Thursday.
The Iraqi president also called for faster U.S. weapons deliveries to strengthen Iraq's army. "The capacity of the factories here are not enough to provide us quickly with all that we need, even for the army," the newspaper quoted Talabani, who is visiting the United States, as saying. "One of our demands is to accelerate the delivery of the arms to the Iraqi army".
Last week the Pentagon said it was ready to sell Iraq weapons worth up to $2.3 billion to help its army expand and take over missions now carried out by U.S. and other foreign forces. It said the sale would include vehicles, small arms ammunition, explosives and communications equipment, as well as upgrades to 32 additional UH-1 helicopters.
The newspaper said U.S. officials conceded Washington faced problems delivering everything Baghdad needed. "We're working hard just to supply our own troops," an administration official told the newspaper. "Our factories are working for our own troops. So it's true we don't have the ability to provide these rifles and other equipment they're looking for."
The Iraqi president also called for faster U.S. weapons deliveries to strengthen Iraq's army. "The capacity of the factories here are not enough to provide us quickly with all that we need, even for the army," the newspaper quoted Talabani, who is visiting the United States, as saying. "One of our demands is to accelerate the delivery of the arms to the Iraqi army".
Last week the Pentagon said it was ready to sell Iraq weapons worth up to $2.3 billion to help its army expand and take over missions now carried out by U.S. and other foreign forces. It said the sale would include vehicles, small arms ammunition, explosives and communications equipment, as well as upgrades to 32 additional UH-1 helicopters.
The newspaper said U.S. officials conceded Washington faced problems delivering everything Baghdad needed. "We're working hard just to supply our own troops," an administration official told the newspaper. "Our factories are working for our own troops. So it's true we don't have the ability to provide these rifles and other equipment they're looking for."
Labels: China, Iraq, Iraqi police, Jalal Talabani, weapons
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Leader of Anbar salvation Council says Islamic State of Iraq may have more weapons than the Iraqi Army
Security, Tribal
(RFE/RL) - Sheikh Abd al-Sattar Abu Rishah, head of the Al-Anbar Salvation Council, told the London-based "Al-Hayat" that the Islamic State of Iraq may have more weapons than the Iraqi Army, the daily reported on June 2. Abu Rishah said that based on the tribes' seven months of fighting the Islamic State in Al-Anbar Governorate, it appears the group "has large armament capabilities, equal to the Iraqi security forces' [capabilities] and even exceeds them."
He contended that the Islamic State systematically looted stockpiles in Al-Iskandariyah, Al-Taji, Al-Mahmudiyah, and Al-Fallujah after the Hussein regime collapsed in 2003. Meanwhile, tribal leader Sattay al-Anzi from Karbala told the daily that militias and insurgent groups have benefited from a strong arms trade due to Iraq's porous borders. "Al-Amarah and Al-Basrah cities have become main outlets for smuggling weapons from Iran and Kuwait," he added.
Labels: Anbar Salvation Council, Islamic State of Iraq, Sattay al-Anzi, Sheikh Abd al-Sattar Abu Rishah, weapons
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Iraq's defence ministry to spend $1.5 bn. on new weapons
Security
(AFP) - Iraq's defence ministry will buy new weapons worth more than 1.5 billion dollars (1.11 billion euros), including helicopters and US rifles, the minister announced on Monday. The purchases will be made possible by a 26 percent increase in the country's defence budget, to 4.1 billion dollars (three billion euros) for the current fiscal year.
"The Iraqi government has signed a contract with the American government to set up a foreign weapons sales office to buy weapons that Iraq needs," Defence Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohammed said at a Baghdad press conference. "This programme will help Iraq to buy modern weapons and to ensure arrival of these weapons when the ministry asks for them," he added.
Iraq has started importing American-made M-16 and M-4 rifles, which are slowly replacing the ubiquitous Soviet-designed AK-47 Kalashnikov among the Iraqi forces struggling to bring order to the country. Mohammed is also looking to beef up the country's air force and navy with the purchase of 29 Soviet-designed M-17 helicopters, six reconnaissance planes, 10 patrol boats from Italy and 26 from the United States.
The gradual switchover from the AK-47 to the M-16 began earlier this month, when a graduating class of Iraqi military recruits became the first of 1,600 rookie soldiers to start receiving the weapons. The M-16 fires a 5.56mm round, standard among most modern armies and lighter than the 7.62mm used in the rugged Kalashnikov.
Iraq is awash with Kalashnikovs looted from ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's defunct armed forces, smuggled from around the region by militants and imported by the United States to arm new Iraqi security units. Many go missing from official stocks, but the new generation of US-made weapons will be issued to individual soldiers, whose photographs and biometric data will be recorded next to their guns' serial numbers to deter fraud.
"The Iraqi government has signed a contract with the American government to set up a foreign weapons sales office to buy weapons that Iraq needs," Defence Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohammed said at a Baghdad press conference. "This programme will help Iraq to buy modern weapons and to ensure arrival of these weapons when the ministry asks for them," he added.
Iraq has started importing American-made M-16 and M-4 rifles, which are slowly replacing the ubiquitous Soviet-designed AK-47 Kalashnikov among the Iraqi forces struggling to bring order to the country. Mohammed is also looking to beef up the country's air force and navy with the purchase of 29 Soviet-designed M-17 helicopters, six reconnaissance planes, 10 patrol boats from Italy and 26 from the United States.
The gradual switchover from the AK-47 to the M-16 began earlier this month, when a graduating class of Iraqi military recruits became the first of 1,600 rookie soldiers to start receiving the weapons. The M-16 fires a 5.56mm round, standard among most modern armies and lighter than the 7.62mm used in the rugged Kalashnikov.
Iraq is awash with Kalashnikovs looted from ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's defunct armed forces, smuggled from around the region by militants and imported by the United States to arm new Iraqi security units. Many go missing from official stocks, but the new generation of US-made weapons will be issued to individual soldiers, whose photographs and biometric data will be recorded next to their guns' serial numbers to deter fraud.
Labels: American government, Defence Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohammed, Iraqi defence ministry, M-16 rifles, M-17 helicopters, M-4 rifles, weapons
Monday, February 26, 2007
Iraqi oficial - Iran no longer providing weapons to Iraq
Security, Politics, Iran
(Reuters) Iranians have stopped training and providing weapons to Iraqi militants in Iraq in the last few weeks to allow a U.S.-backed security plan in Baghdad to succeed, a senior Iraqi official said on Sunday. National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told CNN there was some evidence that Iranians had been supporting some Shi'ite militia groups fighting U.S. troops in Iraq.
"There is no doubt in my mind that recently in the last few weeks they have changed their position and stopped a lot of their tactics and interference in Iraq's internal affairs," Rubaie said in an interview. It was unclear if he was talking of the Iranian government. Washington accuses Shi'ite Iran of fuelling violence in Iraq.
U.S. officials said this month that the Quds Force, a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was supplying weapons to Shi'ite militia groups in Iraq. Washington has been particularly concerned about the so-called explosively formed penetrators, a sophisticated Iranian made roadside bomb that the U.S. military says has killed 170 U.S. soldiers in Iraq since 2004.
"Recently the Iranians have changed their positions and we have some evidence that they have stopped supplying arms or creating any of these shaped mines in the streets of Baghdad," Rubaie said. He said the Iranians had also advised some of their Shi'ite allies in Iraq to "change their position and support the government to give the Baghdad security plan a good chance of success."
"There is no doubt in my mind that recently in the last few weeks they have changed their position and stopped a lot of their tactics and interference in Iraq's internal affairs," Rubaie said in an interview. It was unclear if he was talking of the Iranian government. Washington accuses Shi'ite Iran of fuelling violence in Iraq.
U.S. officials said this month that the Quds Force, a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was supplying weapons to Shi'ite militia groups in Iraq. Washington has been particularly concerned about the so-called explosively formed penetrators, a sophisticated Iranian made roadside bomb that the U.S. military says has killed 170 U.S. soldiers in Iraq since 2004.
"Recently the Iranians have changed their positions and we have some evidence that they have stopped supplying arms or creating any of these shaped mines in the streets of Baghdad," Rubaie said. He said the Iranians had also advised some of their Shi'ite allies in Iraq to "change their position and support the government to give the Baghdad security plan a good chance of success."
Labels: Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iran, Quds Force, weapons
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Bush clarifies Iran weapon statement
Security
(CNN) President Bush said Wednesday that "a part of the Iranian government" is involved in sending deadly explosives into Iraq but acknowledged he didn't know whether top Iranian leaders were responsible. "What we do know is that the Quds Force was instrumental in providing these deadly IEDs to networks inside of Iraq," Bush said at a White House news conference, referring to a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. "We also know that the Quds Force is a part of the Iranian government." Bush insisted there was no contradiction between statements from his administration and the U.S. military.
The possible involvement of the Iranian government in sending weapons to Iraq has been a hot topic since unnamed military officials told journalists Sunday in Baghdad that Iran's Quds Force was providing munitions to Shiite groups in Iraq. The briefers said the Quds Forces answer directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that orders for their operations come "from the highest levels of the government."
The officials displayed evidence of the armor-piercing explosives found in Iraq and said they have caused 170 coalition deaths. The weekend briefing generated much controversy, with bloggers, journalists and others questioning whether the military was trying to drum up public sentiment for a confrontation with Iran.
On Tuesday, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not go as far as assertions made during Sunday's briefing in Baghdad. During a trip to Australia, Pace told Voice of America, "It is clear that Iranians are involved and it is clear that materials from Iran are involved, but I would not say, based on what I know, that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit."
Also Wednesday, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad would not confirm recent military statements that Iran's leadership is directing the production of an armor-piercing explosive said to be supplied to extremists in Iraq. "I think people want to make an inference," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a briefing. "I think people want to hype this up. What we're saying is that in Iran ... munitions are being manufactured that are ending up in Iraq. We are asking the Iranian government for that to stop. It all boils down to that."
The possible involvement of the Iranian government in sending weapons to Iraq has been a hot topic since unnamed military officials told journalists Sunday in Baghdad that Iran's Quds Force was providing munitions to Shiite groups in Iraq. The briefers said the Quds Forces answer directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that orders for their operations come "from the highest levels of the government."
The officials displayed evidence of the armor-piercing explosives found in Iraq and said they have caused 170 coalition deaths. The weekend briefing generated much controversy, with bloggers, journalists and others questioning whether the military was trying to drum up public sentiment for a confrontation with Iran.
On Tuesday, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not go as far as assertions made during Sunday's briefing in Baghdad. During a trip to Australia, Pace told Voice of America, "It is clear that Iranians are involved and it is clear that materials from Iran are involved, but I would not say, based on what I know, that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit."
Also Wednesday, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad would not confirm recent military statements that Iran's leadership is directing the production of an armor-piercing explosive said to be supplied to extremists in Iraq. "I think people want to make an inference," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a briefing. "I think people want to hype this up. What we're saying is that in Iran ... munitions are being manufactured that are ending up in Iraq. We are asking the Iranian government for that to stop. It all boils down to that."
Labels: Bush, Iran, Iraq, Quds Force, security, weapons
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Iraq govt - different stand on Iran to U.S.
Security, Politics, Region
(Asharq Alawsat) The Iraqi Government has affirmed that there is a clear US position towards Iran and that this position does not necessarily reflect that of its government. Maryam al-Rayyis, the Prime Minister's adviser on foreign relations, said the Iraqi Government and people have deep respect for neighboring countries, including them Iran. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat by telephone to comment on the US accusations against Iran, Al-Rayyis said, "We should separate between the Iraqi Government's stand toward Iran and the American one. The Iraqi Government does not want to be a party in the conflict between this and that country."
On its part, representatives of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr denied receiving any backing or support from Iran. Nassar al-Rubay'i, the spokesman for Al-Sadr bloc in Iraq's parliament, asserted that the Al-Sadr group has no knowledge of any support that Iran gives to any party or armed group in Iraq.
However, Kurdish Deputy Mahmud Uthman did not rule out Iran's support for the Shiite militias in Iraq and said: "There is no doubt that Iran is backing the Shiite militias. They are bound together by old ties." He explained however in a telephone contact with Asharq al-Awsat that the United States has its reasons for these statements, is in dispute with Iran, and "is pinning the reasons of its failure in Iraq on Iran, Syria, and the Iraqi Government." Regarding the presence of sophisticated weapons that the armed groups have started to use in their fight against the American forces in Iraq, the Kurdish deputy said that these did not necessarily come from Iran since the gunmen "can bring them from any other sources like Syria or the former Iraqi army."
Labels: Iran, Iraq, U.S., weapons
