On Thu, 18 Dec 2003, BillyGOTO wrote: > On Thu, Dec 18, 2003 at 07:18:04PM +0000, Jim Dixon wrote: > > Relevant numbers from the Times today, quoting Air Force Monthly, January > > 2003: from 1980 to 1990 Iraq imported 28.9 billion pounds worth of > > weapons. 19% by value were from France; 57% from the Soviet Union (ie > > Russia), East Germany, and Czechoslovakia; 8% from China. Sales from the > > United States were inconsequential and did not make the list. From > > earlier articles in other publications I believe that in fact US sales > > were a small fraction of 1%. > > I smell statistical acrobatics by the USAF... > Do we really measure weapons in pounds?
In the UK we measure sales in pounds sterling. One pound = $1.75 and rising. > I'd rather see a listing of weapons imports from JUST the period of > the Iran-Iraq war than a listing of weapons imports from 1980-1990. One is included in the other. From memory, total US military sales to Iraq in the decade were $3 million. As we all know, in Washington DC "a billion dollars here, a billion dollars there -- pretty soon you are talking real money". Three million dollars will buy you a few coffee pots and a monkey wrench for your AWACS aircraft. -- Jim Dixon [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel +44 117 982 0786 mobile +44 797 373 7881 http://jxcl.sourceforge.net Java unit test coverage http://xlattice.sourceforge.net p2p communications infrastructure