Anybody hear about Serbia's 80 mil weapon deal with Iraq

[lovuian]

what did Bush think about that one???
NYT in today

[Earth_First]

1. $80 million? Try $883 million deal...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/13/secret-iraqi-arms-deal-wi_n_96422.html

[lovuian]

2. oh thanks

800 mill thats alot of weapons Where did they get that money from ???
Americans pay for everything I guess

[bushmeister0]

3. They've learned from the best

"The deal was also supported by Iraq’s Office of the Commander in Chief, a shadowy group of Shiite advisers to Mr. Maliki that American officials accused last year of leading a purge of Sunni Iraqi Army commanders who had cracked down on Shiite militia leaders.

The same group, which rejected suggestions that it bring in Western advisers, has marginalized senior uniformed officers charged with procurement decisions and kept American officials in the dark about Iraqi financing of arms deals, according to high-ranking American officials familiar with its workings.

'It struck me as bizarre,' said a Western official with knowledge of the security ministries, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be seen as criticizing people he was advising.

'You can only explain it in two ways: a desire to avoid oversight and a desire to offer opportunities for graft and corruption.'”

Compared to the crap Cheney's Halliburton got away with at the beginning of the war, and still does, this is pretty tame tuff. They're going to have to work a lot harder to get into the big leagues of corruption.