| Submit your comments on this article |
| Axis of Evil |
| Qusay trying to buy arms for the Offspring of All Battles... |
| 2002-07-22 |
| The mounting prospects of an American attack on Iraq have prompted Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, to dispatch his son Qusai to Tehran for talks on possible arms acquisitions. According to an exclusive report published Sunday by the London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, Qusai Saddam Hussein, paid a highly secret visit last week to Tehran, where he held military and security talks with senior Iranian officials. Good idea. You can't have the Offspring of All Battles without lots of armaments... According to the report, Qusai and an accompanying delegation expressed Baghdad’s interest in buying military equipment from Iran ''in cash and at very high prices.'' The delegation’s military shopping list was topped by a request for an unspecified number of ''Shihab I, II and III missiles, at exorbitant prices,'' the daily added. That's be a really dumb move for the Iranians to make, which doesn't mean they won't make it. When the Iranian missiles start landing in Tel Aviv are the Israelis going to say, "Well, yes. They are Iranian-produced, but they're Iraqi launched, so we should only retaliate on Iraq..."? Additionally, Qusai raised the issue of the military and civilian planes that Iraqi pilots flew for safe keeping in Iran on the eve of the 1991 Gulf war. According to Asharq al-Awsat, Qusai offered to buy back each of Iraq’s French Mirage F1 and Soviet Mig and Sukhoi warplanes at half its original price ''in cash.'' Hell, yeah. Go ahead and sell them back. If Bush fluffs it this time, maybe the ayatollahs can sell them again in another ten years... Quoting a ''reliable Iranian source'' close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the newspaper added Iranian President Mohammed Khatami and his aides were unaware of the visit and government sources denied any knowledge of it. Qusai and his delegation were driven from the Iraq-Iran border to the city of Kermanshah in western Iran and then flown aboard a military aircraft to Mehrabad military air base near Tehran. He then had talks with top Revolutionary Guards officers and Defense Ministry officials at the Saadabad complex, a former palace of the late Shah, now used to accommodate visiting heads of state. There's that split between the elected government in Iran and the real government. I think we can pretty well ignore Khatami as an ineffectual boob who's been co-opted by the ayatollahs. Any moves against Iran have to be directed at the real government... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 I'm not a pilot, but I'm not sure I'd like to fly a plane where you have to pump up the tire and put in a new battery before you can move it. |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-07-22 19:11:44 |
| #2 and they've received all the same electronic and radar and countermeasures systems that ours have over those years...right? no? oh-oh... turkeyshoot in November? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2002-07-22 15:21:10 |
| #1 Sure, buy the planes back, they've been sitting on the tarmac at an Iranian airbase, lovingly cared for by the best mechanics in Iran. We all know that these aircraft are in prime condition. I'm sure the Iraqi pilots will be happy to fly these widowmakers, er, fighters into battle. Regards, |
| Posted by: Steve White 2002-07-22 12:42:37 |