Updated: 11:30 AM EST
U.S. Says 'Thousands' of Missiles Missing
By ROBERT BURNS, AP
WASHINGTON (Feb. 25) - It has been known for years that thousands of
light and lethal shoulder-fired missiles are in black-market
circulation. What is not known is exactly who has them and whether
many have fallen into the hands of terrorists or criminals.
A worrisome puzzle, it explains why the United States and Russia
signed an agreement Thursday to cooperate in destroying surplus
Soviet-era SA-7s and other portable anti-aircraft missiles. The
smallest of these are durable, relatively cheap and easy to smuggle.
The United States also has understandings with several other
countries, including Nicaragua, Bosnia, Cambodia and Liberia, for
Washington to provide technical assistance or money to destroy
anti-aircraft missiles.
The State Department estimates that about 1 million shoulder-fired
anti-aircraft missiles have been produced worldwide since the 1950s.
The number believed to be in the hands of "nonstate actors,'' such as
terrorist groups, is "in the thousands,'' the department says.
"What's driving this is concern about the threat to commercial
aviation,'' said Wade Boese, research director at the private Arms
Control Association. A single successful missile attack on a passenger
plane could paralyze the airline industry, at enormous economic loss,
he said.
There has been only one known attempt against a commercial airliner
outside of a war zone. In November 2002, two surface-to-air missiles
barely missed an Israeli charter airliner taking off from the airport
in Mombasa, Kenya, with tourists returning to Israel. Osama bin
Laden's al-Qaida network claimed responsibility for the attempt.
The U.S.-Russian agreement signed by Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov calls for sharing information
about exports of these missiles to third countries.
Of note, Boese said, is the absence of a commitment by either
Washington or Moscow to halt the exports.
The United States began selling its Stinger shoulder-fired missile to
foreign countries in 1982. The CIA secretly transferred an estimated
2,000 to Afghanistan mujahedeen rebels in the mid-1980s, and they were
used to down hundreds of Soviet helicopters and transport aircraft.
When the war against the Soviets ended in 1989, the CIA began offering
to buy back the Stingers for as much as $150,000 apiece. In his book
"Ghost Wars,'' author Steve Coll wrote that as recently as 1996 the
CIA estimated there were about 600 Stingers still unaccounted for in
Afghanistan.
There also are an unknown number of SA-7 and other types of
shoulder-fired missiles in the hands of insurgents in Iraq.
A study published last year by the Government Accountability Office,
the investigative arm of Congress, said the U.S. government's records
on exports of shoulder-fired missiles are "neither complete nor
reliable.''
The GAO said the Army and the office within the Pentagon that manages
arms transfers have conflicted figures on missile exports. One says
7,551 Stingers have been sold abroad since 1982 and the other puts the
figure at 8,331. One says Egypt bought 89; the other says Egypt bought
none.
The biggest buyer over the period was Taiwan, with more than 2,200,
followed by Denmark with 1,140; Japan with between 871 and 1,025, and
Italy with as many as 885.
02/25/05 00:24 EST
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| User: "Barbarossa" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
26 Feb 2005 09:27:29 AM |
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<itwill@happen.com> schreef in bericht
news:1109352459.777f59d24f97ec3f00da120d5e0053b0@teranews...
Updated: 11:30 AM EST
U.S. Says 'Thousands' of Missiles Missing
By ROBERT BURNS, AP
WASHINGTON (Feb. 25) - It has been known for years that thousands of
light and lethal shoulder-fired missiles are in black-market
circulation. What is not known is exactly who has them and whether
many have fallen into the hands of terrorists or criminals.
<snip>
Perhaps these muslims were so tired and disgusted by your postings lately
and you distributing pornography on the internet that they decided it's time
to do something about and all those weaponry are now stocked somewhere
at your neighbours at: 121 W. 15th street Bayonne New Jersey! ;-)
They have internet too you know! :-)
Kind Regards,
Barbarossa
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| User: "veszpertin" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
01 Mar 2005 12:15:46 PM |
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You are a very negative person.
VANORPUI NEIFUA
ENESSA QUA ONNICA
Now, it's all good!
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| User: "WH" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
25 Feb 2005 03:39:28 PM |
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wrote:
Updated: 11:30 AM EST
U.S. Says 'Thousands' of Missiles Missing
By ROBERT BURNS, AP
WASHINGTON (Feb. 25) - It has been known for years that thousands of
light and lethal shoulder-fired missiles are in black-market
circulation. What is not known is exactly who has them and whether
many have fallen into the hands of terrorists or criminals.
Well duh there dummy...they wouldn't be missing now would they if it
was known who exactly has them?
All speculation and projection anyway...soon you'll be blaming Al-Queda
for the bad weather. If you indiscriminately sell arsenals of weapons
to people at the local corner shop then what do you expect? Your monkey
refused to sign a law prolonging the ban on selling these battlefield
weapons to the general public last year sometime. Talk to him. The idea
that a private person, particularly a yank, can mosey into a shop and
buy a bazooka is just amazing. That you can buy anything more lethal
than a dessert spoon amazes me!
WH
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| User: "The CO" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
27 Feb 2005 08:34:18 AM |
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"WH" <bollogs@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1109367568.227757.5910@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
itwill@happen.com wrote:
Updated: 11:30 AM EST
U.S. Says 'Thousands' of Missiles Missing
By ROBERT BURNS, AP
WASHINGTON (Feb. 25) - It has been known for years that thousands of
light and lethal shoulder-fired missiles are in black-market
circulation. What is not known is exactly who has them and whether
many have fallen into the hands of terrorists or criminals.
Well duh there dummy...they wouldn't be missing now would they if it
was known who exactly has them?
All speculation and projection anyway...soon you'll be blaming Al-Queda
for the bad weather. If you indiscriminately sell arsenals of weapons
to people at the local corner shop then what do you expect?
Yes, the RUSSIANS really didn't care that much who they sold SA-7s to and
several countries make a variant, including Pakistan and India. It's the
AK47 of the
MANPAD world... The next generation weren't a hell of lot better, the SA14
used
essentially the same battery pack, though the sensor array was more
sensitive and the
guidance would reject at least some countermeasures.
Wouldn't worry too much though, they are 1st generation passive IR homers
and they
are easily confused even by unmodulated heat sources such as flares and even
the sun or
hot pavement, they are notoriously unreliable and the batteries are prone to
dying in flight
if they are either a bit over their use by date and/or not activated
properly and/or the shooter takes too
long getting a lock before he makes the shot. The attempt to shoot down an
El Al airliner in
Africa a year or so back was probably due to the missile batteries dying in
mid flight, the guidance
stopped working and the rounds went ballistic and missed. It's likely the
shooter took too long
from when he activated the battery (they are a wet cell and need to be
activated just before they
are used, can't recall the battery life off hand, but it's measured in
minutes and it gets shorter as
the cells age. The shooters probably were inexperienced and took a while to
acquire, or activated
the battery well before trying to take the shot, probably made worse by an
old round with an old
battery that died early.
The Stingers that everyone is hyped about are probably not missing, simply
not accounted for,
the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan took pot shots at a lot of Sov helos, but I
seriously doubt there
was any attempt to keep track of them once they got hold of the things -
probably nto a good thing
but I'll wager they were expended in the Ghan rather than redirected.
The systems on the stinger are also rather more sophisticated and they are
much more accurate and
immune to all but rather more sophisticated countermeasures, they ignore
flares and even some
modulated heat sources. However the shelf life before some components need
replacement or
servicing is not that long, any Afghanistan era stingers still around would
need competent servicing
before they would be useable according to my sources.
The CO
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
26 Feb 2005 07:25:10 AM |
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itwill@happen.com wrote:
Updated: 11:30 AM EST
U.S. Says 'Thousands' of Missiles Missing
By ROBERT BURNS, AP
WASHINGTON (Feb. 25) - It has been known for years that thousands of
light and lethal shoulder-fired missiles are in black-market
circulation. What is not known is exactly who has them and whether
many have fallen into the hands of terrorists or criminals.
Well duh there dummy...they wouldn't be missing now would they if it
was known who exactly has them?
All speculation and projection anyway...soon you'll be blaming Al-Queda
for the bad weather. If you indiscriminately sell arsenals of weapons
to people at the local corner shop then what do you expect? Your monkey
refused to sign a law prolonging the ban on selling these battlefield
weapons to the general public last year sometime. Talk to him.
As if this only started during the last 4 years, as if President Bush
has any control over Russia's weapons, which is where the missing
weapons are from for the most part.
Get a clue.
the idea
that a private person, particularly a yank, can mosey into a shop and
buy a bazooka is just amazing. That you can buy anything more lethal
than a dessert spoon amazes me!
WH
Coming from an IRA Terrorist, I find this amusing.
Tony
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| User: "WH" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
26 Feb 2005 11:57:30 AM |
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wrote:
wrote:
Updated: 11:30 AM EST
U.S. Says 'Thousands' of Missiles Missing
By ROBERT BURNS, AP
WASHINGTON (Feb. 25) - It has been known for years that thousands
of
light and lethal shoulder-fired missiles are in black-market
circulation. What is not known is exactly who has them and whether
many have fallen into the hands of terrorists or criminals.
Well duh there dummy...they wouldn't be missing now would they if it
was known who exactly has them?
All speculation and projection anyway...soon you'll be blaming
Al-Queda
for the bad weather. If you indiscriminately sell arsenals of
weapons
to people at the local corner shop then what do you expect? Your
monkey
refused to sign a law prolonging the ban on selling these
battlefield
weapons to the general public last year sometime. Talk to him.
As if this only started during the last 4 years, as if President Bush
has any control over Russia's weapons, which is where the missing
weapons are from for the most part.
Get a clue.
What...that's it them there Ruskies who are to blame? It's always
"someone else" for you yella bellied BTY's isin't it...
the idea
that a private person, particularly a yank, can mosey into a shop
and
buy a bazooka is just amazing. That you can buy anything more lethal
than a dessert spoon amazes me!
WH
Coming from an IRA Terrorist, I find this amusing.
Tony
Watch it now pantyboy...lawsuits and all that. I'm putting that
statement into my "watch-it pantyboy" black book. I read it only as an
attempt by you to cause me and my family harm.
WH
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| User: "R. Foreman" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
26 Feb 2005 07:22:47 PM |
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"WH" <bollogs@hotmail.com> Spat the Words
Watch it now pantyboy...lawsuits and all that. I'm putting that
statement into my "watch-it pantyboy" black book. I read it only as an
attempt by you to cause me and my family harm.
"Watch It Pantyboy". I think I ran across that movie on the
web one time.
WH
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| User: "Marvin The Paranoid Android" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
26 Feb 2005 08:11:44 AM |
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wrote:
wrote:
Updated: 11:30 AM EST
U.S. Says 'Thousands' of Missiles Missing
By ROBERT BURNS, AP
WASHINGTON (Feb. 25) - It has been known for years that thousands of
light and lethal shoulder-fired missiles are in black-market
circulation. What is not known is exactly who has them and whether
many have fallen into the hands of terrorists or criminals.
Well duh there dummy...they wouldn't be missing now would they if it
was known who exactly has them?
All speculation and projection anyway...soon you'll be blaming Al-Queda
for the bad weather. If you indiscriminately sell arsenals of weapons
to people at the local corner shop then what do you expect? Your monkey
refused to sign a law prolonging the ban on selling these battlefield
weapons to the general public last year sometime. Talk to him.
As if this only started during the last 4 years, as if President Bush
has any control over Russia's weapons, which is where the missing
weapons are from for the most part.
Get a clue.
When I read the original article, it was mostly missing US made Stingers
shipped to Afghanistan to down Rooskie 'copters. Thank the CIA for this
mess.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
25 Feb 2005 11:36:10 PM |
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The problem with weapons is they are easy to replicate and produce,(You
only need one or two to dismantle and study) so it is not the missing
weapons but who is making them, and who is buying them.
Accept only the genuine badged death contraption
LB
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| User: "Charly the Bastard" |
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| Title: Re: Thousands of shoulder fired missiles are missing |
01 Mar 2005 08:27:27 AM |
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"leigh8bee@optusnet.com.au" wrote:
The problem with weapons is they are easy to replicate and produce,(You
only need one or two to dismantle and study) so it is not the missing
weapons but who is making them, and who is buying them.
Accept only the genuine badged death contraption
LB
Well actually, it's not that easy to make a guided missile. Ballistic
rockets are bad enough, but trying to steer the thing in flight takes some
fairly sophisticated hardware. It's not like you can go down to Radio Smack
and buy the components and throw one together in your garage. That's why
it's called 'Rocket Science'. You won't find rocket science in the Q'ran,
and spending half the day on your face with your arse in the air makes
everything take forever to get built.
C
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