Sunday, August 24, 2003

U.S. Troops Use Confiscated Iraqi AK-47s. An American soldier stands at the side of an Iraqi highway, puts his AK-47 on fully automatic and pulls the trigger. Within seconds the assault rifle has blasted out 30 rounds. Puffs of dust dance in the air as the bullets smack into the scrubland dirt. Test fire complete. U.S. troops in Iraq may not have found weapons of mass destruction, but they're certainly getting their hands on the country's stock of Kalashnikovs -- and, they say, they need them. The soldiers based around Baqouba are from an armor battalion, which means they have tanks, Humvees and armored personnel carriers. But they are short on rifles. [FirearmNews.com] There have been urban legends for decades of US soldiers using AK-47s instead of M16s in Vietnam. Now it's really happening. 11:03:23 PM    comment () Bomb Targets Key Iraqi Shiite Cleric [AP World News] Also Sunday, Iraqi sources said U.S. authorities were recruiting key ex-members of Saddam Hussein's feared security service, working to expand intelligence gathering and root out the resistance that has peppered U.S. forces with guerrilla attacks and now resorted to terror bombings. The Iraqis, closely linked to the Mukhabarat service, spoke only on condition of anonymity. They said the U.S. recruitment of about 100 former intelligence higher-ups had been in progress for more than two weeks. Another example of what the Feds mean by "liberation." 2:59:39 PM    comment ()

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