But 200,000 AK-47s?
As the AI investigation (Note: see page 16 of the PDF) found, there is no record of the 200,000 AK-47s flown from the U.S-military controlled Eagle Base near Tuzla, Bosnia, ever actually reached Iraq. The End User Certificate were from the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority and the interim Iraqi administration.
Sent to Iraq in 2004? By the US government? And we don't know where they are?
Call me suspicious, but I find it hard to believe that we lost 200,000 rifles. And that since 2004, we haven't tracked them down.
Could there have been a little typo on the shipping order that we corrected in time? You know, cross off the "q" and insert "n?" And store them inside Iraq until we can send them to their proper destination? Absolute sheer speculation based on nothing but a suspicious mind, I hasten to repeat. But odd. And if the mullahs rely on the Basij for suppressing any revolt, having automatic rifles would put the people in a much better position to fight back.
Remember, nothing says revolution quite like the AK-47.