U.S. in violation of Geneva convention?
Jim Dixon
jdd at dixons.org
Thu Dec 18 12:13:14 PST 2003
On Thu, 18 Dec 2003, BillyGOTO wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 07:18:04PM +0000, Jim Dixon wrote:
> > Relevant numbers from the Times today, quoting Air Force Monthly, January
> > 2003: from 1980 to 1990 Iraq imported 28.9 billion pounds worth of
> > weapons. 19% by value were from France; 57% from the Soviet Union (ie
> > Russia), East Germany, and Czechoslovakia; 8% from China. Sales from the
> > United States were inconsequential and did not make the list. From
> > earlier articles in other publications I believe that in fact US sales
> > were a small fraction of 1%.
>
> I smell statistical acrobatics by the USAF...
> Do we really measure weapons in pounds?
In the UK we measure sales in pounds sterling. One pound = $1.75 and
rising.
> I'd rather see a listing of weapons imports from JUST the period of
> the Iran-Iraq war than a listing of weapons imports from 1980-1990.
One is included in the other. From memory, total US military sales
to Iraq in the decade were $3 million. As we all know, in Washington DC
"a billion dollars here, a billion dollars there -- pretty soon you are
talking real money". Three million dollars will buy you a few coffee
pots and a monkey wrench for your AWACS aircraft.
--
Jim Dixon jdd at dixons.org tel +44 117 982 0786 mobile +44 797 373 7881
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