How SHOCKING...people in armed conflict being resourceful...there are FAR DEADLIER weapons from the former USSR that are now in the hands of islamists that we need to worry about...

What about the weapons that Col. Oliver North sold Iran in the 1980's during the Iran Contra Affair? How many of those weapons have been used to kill US troops?

If you sell as much as US does all over the world, then stop whining when some lands on your own head.

Better ask yourself how many suicidebommings there were before the US invaded Iraq.

None.

JK wake up!
The Palestinians had used suicide bombers (and Sadam paid their families $25k) years before the US war in Iraq!

The article is about the Soviet (or former Soviet) sale of weapons, not the US. BUT, of course American weapons are used around the world, as well. Superior product quality rules a free market.

The weapon sold to Iran, via Israel in the 80's was the BGM-71 TOW (Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank missile. I'm no weaponry expert, but maybe US military people in Iraq would be able to tell what they're getting hit with, and this particular weapon hasn't been mentioned in the same reports of other Iranian munitions used on US troops.

The USA is the leading exporter of weapons, followed by Russia, Israel and Britain, so any discussion of where the weapons being used AGAINST the USA originate has to start with that admission. Further, any outrage by any Americans, or Russians, or Isralis or British, over where weapons come from is certainly misplaced.

It doen't matter the subject, some people are always going to blame the U.S. instead of the terrorists responsible. Under their scewed up line of thinking, I would be responsible for the robber robbing my house because I have things he wants. Give me a freakin break!!!

sinkntired: Actually, the proper analogy would be "having one's house robbed after selling lockpick sets to the neighborhood hoodlums".

The U.S. has made poor decisions in the past. That does not absolve other parties of blame, but to pretend we have no responsibility in the matter is both foolish and dangerous. (Analogy: walking through a bad neighborhood with a fistful of c-notes.)

No, a more definitive analogy would be if one of the students shot and killed at VA Tech, their father owned the gun shop that sold the Korean boy the weapon that he used to kill the students with...

Does anybody know what specific points were agreed upon at the meeting between Iran, Iraq and the US this past weekend in Baghdad?

And NZ, there's no pretext for nuking anybody...

Having watched the videos, all I can say is - right or wrong - those poor bastards chucking those WW2 vintage grenades at the over-armoured, over-armed, over-there US invaders sure have some stones.
Time to leave, USA, time to leave.
Your administration has sown enough bad seed in Iraq to feed hatred for a thousand years, way to go, what a success...

There's only one way to win a war and we are not willing to go there morally. ...

The U.S. needs to strike Russia preemptively before it has a chance to do further harm to our troops or to our nation. What's more, the U.S. needs a preemptive strike against China, North Korea, Colombia and any other nation that the Bush administration does not like. The U.S. cannot afford a preemptive strike gap.

Wow, so people who have had their country illegally attacked and invaded by the USA and reduced to garbage, are fighting to get rid of the invader. How dare you call these people terrorists? They are doing nothing different to any of the WW2 resistance movements, such as the French Maquis, in killing as many Nazis as possible. If the USA wants to see the end of US troop deaths, then it should apologise for its illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, withdraw its forces entirely and pay the Iraqi people reparations for destroying their nation on the basis of fabricated allegations and blatant lies from the White House. Dragging Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld before the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague would be a good idea too. If they don't do this, the USA can expect to be bled to death slowly until it cuts and runs, because it never had any business invading Iraq, it has no business occupying Iraq and heaven help the USA if it launches an assault on Iran, because the Iranians may bring their reaction to the US mainland that will make 9/11 look like a walk in the park.

Munky states here, "There's only one way to win a war and we are not willing to go there morally. ..."

Munky, I have some news for you. The only way to win a war by invading a nation in the modern era is to win the hearts and minds of the invaded populace. If this does not occur, then the invaders are doomed. They will be bled to death slowly until they are completely wiped out or they cut and run.

This is what happened in Vietnam and is now occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan. The USA, the most powerful military entity this planet has ever seen, was humiliated in Vietnam by a bunch of ragtag guerillas. It is now being given a thorough drubbing in Iraq, despite "surges" of troops and every other ploy tried in the past five years.

Why? Because the USA is hated by the very people it claims to want to "liberate", because those very same people know damn well that "liberation" by the Americans means becoming a subjugated client state of the USA and being raped for its resources for the benefit of the US military-industrial machine.

There is only one way the USA can actually win any war these days, and that is by completely annihilating its enemy by nuking it. This is self-defeating, simply because the USA will have nothing to left to pillage and it will just spur every other nation to arm themselves with nuclear weapons.

The other problem the USA has is this crazy "War On Terror" - simply because nobody can fight a conventional war against a philosophy, especially something like a hatred of the USA and a willingness to die for an idea. However, the USA is not winning any friends in the world by running a concentration camp reminiscent of something the Nazis would have been proud of, illegally "rendering" (call it kidnapping) citizens of other nations for torture, perpetrating atrocities such as "waterboarding" on people who may be innocent of any wrongdoing and so on. Can you imagine the outrage in the USA if for instance the same was done to US troops by the Mehdi Army? The USA would be trying to invoke every international law possible, however when the USA condones and perpetrates such , international laws and treaties are completely ignored.

The writing is on the wall. Warfare has changed completely and those that commit atrocities will pay the penalty for them eventually.

Excuse me people, I forgot preemptive srikes against Iran and Syria. Hey, why not go ahead and strike Pakistan while we're at it. They aren't doing anything to capture bin Laden. And if we don't do something about India, they will soon take all of our jobs, so let's strike them, too. Everyone knows that the U.S. is the only superpower in the world, so let's get on with world domination while we still can.

I'm certain Bush, Cheney, Rice and what's left of the neocons can come up with the justification to kill off seventy-five percent of the world population so that the U.S. will own the vast majority of the world's oil and other natural resources. I am just as certain that the die-hard political, social, and economic conservative republicans would enthusiastically support such a takeover of the world.

"The writing is on the wall?"...cheeeezy...

Seems like we pulled the same thing on the Russians in Afghanistan.

How many US made weapons killed Russian troops when they were occupying Afghanistan and we were supplying arms and training to the likes of Osama Bin Laden? Sad to say what's goes around comes around.

I have never read more tripe in all of my life. Everything that happens is the fault of the US. People are dying, our people are dying and all that I read is that it is all out fault.

Concerned American writes, "Everything that happens is the fault of the US. People are dying, our people are dying and all that I read is that it is all out fault."

Sir, if the USA illegally interferes in the affairs of foreign nations, bombs them and kills innocent civilians on the basis of fabrications that were deliberately concocted at the highest level of your government, then it IS the fault of the USA if your people are dying.

Why don't you ask these questions of your president or your vice-president? Ask them why they unilaterally attacked and completely destroyed a once-prosperous nation that was absolutely no threat to the USA. Ask them why US troops are still in Iraq 5 years later, when it is obvious that most Iraqis want them out.

Ask your administration why they are now fabricating a pretext to attack Iran, when there is not a shred of proof about a nuclear weapons program. Ask Bush and Cheney how on earth can even a nuclear-armed Iran threaten the continental USA from the other side of the planet.

That should answer your questions about why it's always "your" fault (the USA's), simply because the USA will not mind its own business, which is confined to the borders of your country. What happens in Iraq, Iran, North Korea or any other nation is the business of those nations, not the business of the USA.

If you would like to see the USA not blamed for creating such misery in the world, tell your administration to just stop interfering in the affairs of sovereign nations, that's all. But don't whine about why the Americans get blamed for debacles such as Iraq, because the Americans caused them.

Why should Iran give up all nuclear processing (never proven to be for bombs) while Israel is allowed to keep their never-admitted-to (except by accident), never inspected arsenal of ready-to-deploy, deliverable nuclear bombs? What about Pakistan, whose nuclear weapons could become Taliban property overnight (US says no problem with nukes in Pakistan, India, Israel). Why not a nuclear-free Middle East? Because Bush would rather demonize Iran.

Hey , can I push the big red button and end the world as we know it ? Huh , huh, can I ? ( Big toothy smile ) .

ridiculous. all of you. have any of you actually spoken to a soldier than has been to iraq for at least a year? do you know what the first thing they say is? DONT WATCH THE NEWS. information is skewed. i was speaking with a US marine that was stationed in iraw. He said the innocent civilians were so thankful for their arrival that they were practically kissing their feet with thank-yous for freeing them from their dictator. Now where else will you hear that?

G8 meeting, Bush 28% approval. God help us.

Most of you people are either not from the U.S or im reading the biggest bunch of liberal propaganda ever..remember that Iran has chanted "death to America" every friday after prayers since 1979..thanks Carter! It has stated Isreal should be "wiped off the map"..and we need to let Iran have a nuke? Only if you want to speed up the end of the world..What happens at gitmo stays at gitmo.

JK,
re: suicide bombings - "NONE" ??????
Are you referring to Operation Desert Storm, or Op. Iraqi Freedom? In case you where unaware of historical events, (a major faux pas when spouting off as you did,) we were attacked numerous times prior to 'Freedom.' But I'm sure you will find a way to blame Bush for those too.

You Righties and your conservative regurgitation culled straight from Rush and Coulter need to stop and breathe for a moment and ask yourself why we haven't won a fight against backward people we (I am an American) besieged for ten years. They don't "hate us for our freedom". They hate us for imposing our military will on them, because we abandoned the Afghanis after the Russians left, for forcing the Shah on them, because we gave Saddam poison gas, because we gave Turkey attack helicopters, because we let genocides go on and on in the name of "stability". Come on. We won't "win" this for the same reasons the British couldn't win agaist us. Those people fighting us in Irag, wherever they originated, are convinced what they are doing is correct and just. As stated above, we must win hearts and minds or its all a waste. Actually a waste of about $88 million dollars per soldier, so far. Come one Righties! Where's your fiscal conservatism? Your social conservatism? Seriously, how does this war advance your agenda? Because all I see is secret wire-tapping, Party purges, loyalty hiring, stolen elections. Hmm, sounds rather Soviet doesn't it?

You folks that wonder why Iranians chant "Death To America" all the time, obviously do not understand what the USA has done to the Iranians.

Firstly, go to Google and look up Operation Ajax. Back in 1953, Mohammed Mossadegh was the Iranian president and decided to nationalise Iran's oil, because up to that time, the USA and Britain had been pillaging Iran's oil resources and the Iranian people were getting almost nothing for it. The USA and Britain engineered a coup that deposed Mossadegh and installed Shah Reza Pahlavi, who stayed in power for 30 years or so by virtue of US backing and his SAVAK secret police that terrorised and brutalised ordinary Iranians even worse than the Nazi Gestapo did to Germans.

The Iranians have very long memories and will not forget why they suffered for so long. They know who was behind their misery - the USA and Britain.

As for the reason why the USA is trying its best to provoke Iran and generate a pretext to attack that nation, just Google an article called "The Iranian Oil Bourse" by Professor Krassimir Petrov. It's not the nukes, it's not the oil, it's the worthless US dollar that is at the bottom of the Iraq war and the impending US attack on Iran.

Until you read that article, you will be deluding yourself about the real reasons for the problems in the Middle East and the involvement of the USA there. Apart from the grab for oil by the USA, it's the US petrodollar hegemony that is under threat and with it, American military and economic power. Once the rest of the world realises the enormous scam it has laboured under with the worthless US dollar and ditches it for the Euro, the USA will be destroyed as a world power. The White House and the Pentagon cannot allow this to happen and that is why Saddam Hussein was deposed and executed and that is why Iran is the next target.

Read Petrov's article and weep, because that will explain what the US administration is really up to. Until you do, you will remain blind and ignorant to the machinations and scheming of the US government.

All the left wing invective in the world won't change the facts. Vietnam was not lost by the military. The Tet offensive was a decided victory for the U.S. The Viet Cong were being decimated by the tactics that the military had developed over the years. It was only when the diplomats threw away all that and turned it over to the South Vietnamese that Vietnam was 'lost'. The South Vietnamese then proceeded to keep the torch burning for two more years, until a left-wing Democratic Congress cut off funding to an ally in a time of war. A most foul and despicable act as ever was.

The Iraq war is a legal response to the provocations of Saddam Hussein. It is in fact a continuation of the first Iraq war and there is nothing left-wing freakazoids can do about it. You can shout till you are blue in the face. The United States did nothing illegal or unethical in prosecuting the Iraq war. As for the United States selling weapons there is nothing unethical about selling weapons to allies. It is a tightrope act and there are downsides to it, especially when the allies turn out to be unreliable. There are times when the unpalatable is done to forestall what is worse.

Anyone who believes that the United States went into Iraq because of oil is a major head case. While oil has been a factor in Middle East politics it was not the reason for going after Hussein. Get over it.

Wow, it seems like the US did not actually loose the Vietnam War - but sure, how could it be lost with both Rambo AND John Wayne on our side.

Anyway if the US did not loose in Vietnam why have the governments since then tried som much 'spin' to make the truth go away.

The hearts and minds of the Iraqis is lost - if anyone could remedy that it would be great - but i think Iraq is lost and now the concern must be to get the US soldiers out - as many alive as possible.

Ziggy, are you really sure that Krassimir Petrov's assertions are true? For example, if you search in Google for "Strange ideas about the Iranian oil bourse" then you will find at least one article that poses some counter assertions to Petrov's claims.

Simply amazing, the kind of passionate discussion only a handful of grenades can set off. Oh the Proliferation thing... have you noticed that since we've neutered ourselves by suing our own weapons industry into the ground, we carry small arms made in Belgium, Italy and Germany? We go where we're sent, those of us who swear oaths to protect some old paper which no one seems to respect anymore. We respect history, learn its lessons, and as much as we can, we try not to doom ourselves the way the people in our charge want to doom us. That's the American Public. Some of us joined for the Honor of being part of two million who work to defend three hundred million. The mission reads "...to deter War, and if Deterrence fails, to Win in Combat." We have been engaged in combat as a People. Our Enemy in the Mid-east isn't deterred. He's been striking at us for decades, and I really do think we've been pretty light on him all this time. He's attacked our Ships and our Embassies. He has assassinated and maimed our Servicemen and Citizens in surprise attacks long before September 11. He's declared war on us. He's not afraid to go abroad from his home to do us harm. He will behead his neighbor with a knife and post the act on the Internet. He does these things and worse in the name of God when there's not a sentence in the holy texts to warrant it. Right, Left, Tory, Whig- Whatever. Why would you not want me to help stop this Enemy? how can you not want me to keep him off our shores? We will win if you let us. Really, the major parallels I can draw between this war and the one our Ancestors fought in Vietnam is that a public with a massive attention deficit and vote-hungry politicians can lose it for us, for our armed forces cannot beaten militarily. Just politically.

To everyone with their heads in the sand:
This is not a left vs. right issue as every politician wants to make it, it is an American vs. radical individuals banded together under a banner of hatred for everything free. Radical muslims hate us because of things like this blog, our women go to the beach in swimsuits instead of burkas and every single freedom we have in USA. They dont hate us because we are in their country but because we are free and do not base everything we do off of the Koran! We will lose this war because Americans believe the crap the news and politicians tell them on a daily basis. Do some research and read about the true mindset of radical muslims and you will find they want the world to be Muslim and without freedom. Imagine your wife in a burqa, no internet, no freedom to think. America has done awesome things in Iraq and Afghanistan that never get told, i.e. little girls can go to school, honor killings (google it) are not allowed, free newspapers are in print, secret police are not terrorizing the public. Radical Muslims will kill anyone who does not believe in the purest form of Islam including other Muslims. It is no ones fault other than peoples lack of caring and willingness to take responsibility. In almost every blog someone blames someone else or country for the problems they have. The US military is an awesome thing and just think less than 2 million Americans dedicate their lives for the benefit of 300 million. It is not being beat by the insurgents as many of you think it is being beat by a PC culture who thinks that you can negotiate with terrorists. You can if you give them everything, especially your freedom. They will come here and they will kill you if we give them the opportunity by lacking the backbone to give a country the chance to learn democracy!