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Italian probe unearths huge Iraqi arms deal - 8/12/2007 9:43:37 AM

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Italy probe unearths huge Iraq arms deal
By CHARLES J. HANLEY and ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writers 40 minutes ago

In a hidden corner of Rome's busy Fiumicino Airport, police dug quietly through a traveler's checked baggage, looking for smuggled drugs. What they found instead was a catalog of weapons, a clue to something bigger.
Their discovery led anti-Mafia investigators down a monthslong trail of telephone and e-mail intercepts, into the midst of a huge black-market transaction, as Iraqi and Italian partners haggled over shipping more than 100,000 Russian-made automatic weapons into the bloodbath of Iraq.

As the secretive, $40 million deal neared completion, Italian authorities moved in, making arrests and breaking it up. But key questions remain unanswered.

For one thing, The Associated Press has learned that Iraqi government officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of the U.S. Baghdad command — a departure from the usual pattern of U.S.-overseen arms purchases.

Why these officials resorted to "black" channels and where the weapons were headed is unclear.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070812/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_operation_parabellum

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RE: Italian probe unearths huge Iraqi arms deal - 8/12/2007 11:56:45 AM

EvilCrimeLord

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So either elements within the Iraqi government are supporting the insurgency or are handing out weapons to Shias to defend themselves against Sunni elements. Maybe because the Shia led government has lost faith in the occupying forces to do this. That country is a mixture of strange bedfellows and I don’t see how anyone from outside can know who their friends are there.

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RE: Italian probe unearths huge Iraqi arms deal - 8/12/2007 11:59:50 AM

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"Strange mixture of bedfellows".......... very apt statement, there. The longer things drag on, the more sense splitting Iraq up seems to make.

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RE: Italian probe unearths huge Iraqi arms deal - 8/12/2007 12:58:56 PM

LATEXBABY64

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um Tony Sopranno did not get a cut in this you know how it goes freaking idiots

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RE: Italian probe unearths huge Iraqi arms deal - 8/12/2007 1:51:58 PM

Zensee

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Who needs organised crime? http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2142774,00.html

"More than 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols distributed to Iraqi forces by the US are missing, feared fallen into the hands of insurgents, a congressional watchdog warned today."

Z.

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RE: Italian probe unearths huge Iraqi arms deal - 8/12/2007 2:12:31 PM

Lordandmaster