Legal and illegal, untraceable and smuggled, sea of weapons floods Iraq

[struggle4progress]

12.08.2007 02:48:47

BAGHDAD (AP) - Since the U.S. invasion in 2003, when looters ransacked armories and deserting Iraqi soldiers took their rifles home, this bloodied land has been flooded by a sea of weapons fed from both the legal and illegal market.

Besides more than 700,000 rifles and other weapons arming the new Iraqi army and police, at least 7 million guns are believed in the hands of civilians, including insurgents and sectarian militias, in a nation of 27 million, the Geneva-based research group Small Arms Survey reports.

More are pouring in: The Pentagon said July 26 that some 122,000 fresh weapons are in the official supply pipeline for Iraqi security forces. Many more come via black-market channels. ~snip~

http://www.live-pr.com/en/legal-and-illegal-untraceable-and-smuggled-r17687.htm