Iran-Iraq Rifle Connection Fizzles
Remember the flap about Iran supplying sniper rifles to the U.S.? Well, now you can forget it. Not a single one of the guns in question -- Steyr-Mannlicher HS50 .50-cals -- "has ever been documented as having been captured from Sunni insurgents or Shia militias in Iraq," Bob Owen writes.
U.S. Army Christopher C. Garver, Director of the Combined Press Information Center for Multinational Corps-Iraq, stated that no such rifles have ever been confirmed recovered by American military forces in Iraq.
"...[W]e have queried our units to see if anyone can find any evidence of those Steyr-Mannlicher sniper rifles," said Garver.
"To date, we have not found one unit that has any knowledge of that find.
"I can't tell you that this didn't happen -- the possibility that the cache of rifles was destroyed before being completely documented does exist, though the chance of that happening is small -- but we have been able to find no evidence of it."
Our own David Hambling was skeptical of the sniper rifle tale, when it first broke.
Now, does that mean the whole Iran-meddling-behind-the-scenes-to-destabilize-Iraq-and-Afghanistan story is bunk? I doubt it. Just today, the ordinarily-careful Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said there was "irrefutable evidence" that Iran was arming the Taliban. But allegations that explosive need to be backed up with concrete evidence. Jumping to conclusions won't help
