When I see things like this article, which claims that these sniper rifles came from Iran, I wonder who planted the article. Yes, the Iraqi resistance is getting sophisticated weaponry like good sniper rifles and EFPs, but they are well-funded and this stuff is easily obtainable.
It is quite possible these sniper rifles did come from Iran but we really need more hard facts before claiming that they did. Like the serial numbers. Everything sold to the Iranians was recorded and the numbers are easily obtainable by American authorities. So why hasn't someone done the basic research and said, "This one, this one and this one were all purchased by the Iranian government last year and were found in the hands of resistance fighters in Iraq?" Not hard, really.
Until one realizes that the patent on this design expired long ago, they are available on the open market to anyone who has the dosh, and that would just require some real journalistic research.
Posted by artandscience at February 27, 2007 03:04 PM