Question about sniper rifles in Iraq...

I just finished reading this article, about how .50 sniper rifles that were sold to Iran, (allegedly) were used by insurgents in Iraq.

Anyone here have any other information about this, or as to the credibility (or lack of) of this story?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/13/wiran313.xml

It wouldn't be a surprise if Iran funneled .50 cal sniper rifles to the Badr Corps or whatever, and maybe the US came across some Badr caches when raiding Shiite areas. (After all, Iranian personnel have been arrested even from the personal compound of the leader of SCIRI, al-Hakim, who got a personal audience with Bush himself in Amman, Jordan not very long ago.) Let's say that's the case. How can Badr Brigade members even remotely be called "insurgents"? They're not killing US soldiers. They may well be killing Sunni civilians on the side. They are likely to be members of the police or the army. Who decided they should be called "insurgents"?

Now the .50 cals actually being there, that is not so unbelievable. But at any rate it's no more illegal or immoral than any number of US arms sales to countries that consequently don't follow the fine print in using them. This isn't the US but, there have been famous cases where the UK's would-be "ethical foreign policy" was let down because APC's they sold say, Indonesia, were used by the corrupt government to put down protests instead of "legitimate" military uses. Things of that nature. This happens all the time, there's no way to enforce these agreements except to voluntarily dismantle your own domestic arms sale business to a given country, so of course, no one does it.

As grounds for warfighting it's the thinnest of the thin.

PB

All you needs iz cash - and no questions asked...

No need to import them from I-ran.

I could be wrong but, off the top of my head I'm thinking Olympic Arms (OlyArms) or the single shot bolt Barret. I could be wrong about the manufacturer, unfortunately.

I worry a lot more about other, less-flashy, less-expensive weapons being used to cause problems in our country and Iraq.

PB

...the serial numbers on the weapons to trace who it was shipped to. There are at least 15 .50 rifle manufacturers but Steyr firearms are high-quality and stand out by their mere presence. I can't say that they're the "best" .50 (which probably goes to Barrett (sp?)) but they're certainly an expensive firearm compared to what others are charging for the same weapon.

  We outfitted the mujahadeen with these when the Afghanis were fighting the Soviets so they could do exactly the same thing to the Soviets than the Iranians are helping the insurgents do to us.

  Of all the stories passed around about Iran, this is the one I find most believable.

  For instance, there was a picture a few years ago of an old woman celebrating on the streets of Iraq (after we'd invaded) with a shiny new Glock. Like the Steyr, it was conspicuous by its quality. Anyway, reading further down the story, they said that an Iraqi policemand had handed her the gun to "celebrate" with (st00pid, so st00pid). And presumably how he got it was from the U.S. Very expensive piece of equipment compared to a much lower-priced weapon, in both cases, which would give the same level of service, or nearly so.

PB