Weapons of Less Destruction (but Destruction Just the Same)

Number AK47 with a Bullet in Iraq

Published on July 22, 2004 By kingbee In Current Events

last may, in anticipation of the coalition's transfer of authority at the end of june, an indiana arms dealer was awarded a contract valued from $25-$35 million dollars to provide assault weapons to the iraqi police forces

kiesler police supply of jefferson, indiana, had previously been awarded smaller contracts. according to an article in the louisville ky courier-journal published may 27, 2004:

A $19.9million Iraq contract awarded to Kiesler in August drew criticism from several members of Congress. Many of the 9mm handguns that Kiesler supplied were manufactured in Austria, and the congressional critics contended that U.S. companies should have received more consideration for the lucrative deal.

The most recent contract — awarded April 27 — was for $5.7 million. According to the Department of Defense, Kiesler won the contract over eight other companies.

this time around, kiesler outbid 7 other arms dealers and will be providing the iraqi police agencies with polish and czech-made AK-47s--including some with built-in silencers - as well as more austrian 9mms.

anyone who's been paying even the slightest attention to news video from iraq may be wondering when the coalition is going to start contracting for sand, heating and other commodities that are in equally short supply in iraq.

there are millions of small arms in iraq already. enough, by some estimates, to provide each man, woman and child in iraq with his or her own gun (the most common method of estimating seems to be tonnage rather than mere numbers). the iraqi transitional constitution deals with gun rights in a way guaranteed to push charleton heston that much closer to possession of cold, dead hands. believe it or not, artlcle 17 contains the following language: It shall not be permitted to possess, bear, buy, or sell arms except on licensure issued in accordance with the law. considering the state of the state, licensing is probably a nicety that will be dealth with later. in practice, the coalition and the post-hussein iraqi governors permit each family to have a weapon for protection. automatic assault weapons seem to be the favorites when it comes to family protection.

insurgents may prefer something with a bit more stopping power, but they seem to be cool with an ak in a pinch.

why the nra hasnt decided to hold a combination field trip and convention in baghdad is beyond me because iraq has to be the next best thing to a visit to kiesler's website. (kiesler was the source of most of david koresh's collection btw).

but i digress.

a number of people--including ministers of the current iraqi government and even some us troops--have characterized actions of the iraqi insurgency as being, if not justifiable, at least comprehensible since the country is occupied by an invading army. if mexico or canda were to occupy a us city--for whatever reason--there would surely be citizens who'd put up armed resistance. after all, thats what the 2nd amendment to our constitution is all about, no?

it's nearly impossible to locate any sort of credible statistics for the number of small arms casualties on both sides, but a reasonable guess would be 'quite a few' to 'a lot'. while they may not be nearly as newsworthy as wmds or even car bombs, the distinction is likely squandered on those who've died or been seriously injured by small arms fire.

all of which leads me to suppose the coalition could have more wisely spent $50 million exporting rather than importing coal to newcastle..umm..i mean ak-47s to iraq.

Comments

stevendedalus

on Jul 25, 2004

A very intriguing article with ramifications, such as arming the Iraqi police force with better weapons and gear than our troops have and very definitely our own police force at home. And you're surely right about millions going for arms when so much else is needed, especially when Iraq already has too damn many arms. Misplaced values in funding also says something about our own oblivion to priorities at the home front.

bakerstreet

on Jul 25, 2004

And then next week when there is a thread about insurgency in Iraq, much will be make of us not helping equip Iraqis defend themselves. Whatever makes the best argument at the moment... it doesn't have to hold up in a larger picture. That's how blogging "discussions" work.

The same thing could be said about the US. Why are we arming US police officers with $400-$600 guns when you could go to a flea market and buy heaps of cheaper ones? Why destroy all those guns we confiscate from criminals? Lets just give them to cops and save the extra cash?

Silly questions. You don't outfit people who rely on weapons for their lives with "used" weapons. A gun fails to fire *once*, and someone could be dead, and whoever insisted on skimping on the cost and re-issuing army surplus is to blame. Then *you'd* be the one here making yet another argument based on an opposing fact to prop the same old grudge.

Ignorant, antagonistic, farcical bullshit like:

"why the nra hasnt decided to hold a combination field trip and convention in baghdad is beyond me because iraq has to be the next best thing to a visit to kiesler's website. "

just proves you are out to alienate and antagonize instead of making any kind of valid point.

Don't you see that if they had handed the same weapons used against the US back over to the new Iraqi forces that you'd be here making some long, rhapsodic epic poem about "Different times, Same Guns", or talking about how we allocated so much money to help Iraqis defend themselves and now we are making them use worn-out weapons? The statement:

"a number of people--including ministers of the current iraqi government and even some us troops--have characterized actions of the iraqi insurgency as being, if not justifiable, at least comprehensible since the country is occupied by an invading army. if mexico or canda were to occupy a us city--for whatever reason--there would surely be citizens who'd put up armed resistance. after all, thats what the 2nd amendment to our constitution is all about, no? "

That to me makes the whole question as clear as can be. Nothing we do is going to please you, because you see us as an "invading army", and any detail you can use to reitereate the point is good enough. It doesn't matter the detail, if you can use it to reiterate your disgust, you'll make it work.

kingbee

on Jul 25, 2004

Iraq already has too damn many arms

sure seems that way to me

kingbee

on Jul 25, 2004

just proves you are out to alienate and antagonize

Nothing we do is going to please you, because you see us as an "invading army", and any detail you can use to reitereate the point is good enough. It doesn't matter the detail, if you can use it to reiterate your disgust, you'll make it work.

i should agree with you and admit i devote all my time trying to tease ever more obtuse & contrary conclusions from the facts in desperate hope of demeaning the most noble, wholesome and guileless efforts of an administration striving selflessly to elevate the human condition.

unfortunately, i dont have that kind of time to waste.

what led me to this topic was seeing 15 months of news video showing what appears to be an excessively well-armed iragi citizenry and wondering

how many of the 900+ american dead were killed by small arms fire
why there hasnt been much effort made to disarm them
why its necessary to import additional weapons despite the discovery of large caches of new, in the box weapons
how a domestic weapons supplier with a less than distinguished reputation (for among other things, going out of its way to acquire the types of weapons now banned in the united states and apparently knowingly re-selling handguns formerly owned by municipal police departments to street gang members) managed to find itself contracting to arm iraqi police.
about the irony of underestimating the threat of small arms while overestimating that of wmds.

as far as the us being an invading force, theres no question but that is the case. i wasnt endorsing the concept...i dont support or condone the insurgents' response to it. merely stating the obvious.

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