US Weapons on the Iraqi Black Market

I found this article while perusing various websites and found it quite interesting. The article is from June 2008, making it somewhat dated but I still think it is relevant. The Bush administration accused Iran of supplying the majority of the Shiite militia rocket propelled grenade launchers in Iraq. Well, it turns out that a US government study found that the vast majority of the RPGs confiscated came from one of two sources: US-purchased weapons intended for Iraqi security forces (which were then sold on the black market) and Saddam Hussein's old stockpiles of weapons (which were not properly secured when the US took over Iraq). Other RPGs, the RPG-29 (an anti-taken launcher) manufactured in Russia, came in through Syria (as these same weapons were used by Hezbollah against Israel, based on media reports from Israel and Lebanon). Look at all the other countries involved in this mess! These weapons cross the Iraqi border, aside from the one's looted within Iraq. The smuggling operation over the desert must be extensive.

More interesting (and related to the topic of black markets) is this quote: "Malcolm Nance, an Arabic-speaking 20-year veteran of military and civilian U.S. intelligence, recalls being offered more than 20 RPG-7 rocket launchers and dozens of RPG rounds in a single trip to an arms bazaar in Sadr City in September 2003. According to Nance, RPG-7s were also on sale in black markets at another location in Baghdad and in at least seven other Iraqi cities... the Iraqi RPG-7s were "so ubiquitous" that they were selling for a mere $50 each for the launcher and $5 each for an RPG missile." Related to Grace's post, the prevelance of these weapons (and these markets) is quite astonishing. The black markets, while internal to Iraq, invoke a host of other countries (including the US). And their effects certainly go beyond Iraq and the US but involve the rest of the volatile region including Iran and Syria.