男女羞羞视频在线观看,国产精品黄色免费,麻豆91在线视频,美女被羞羞免费软件下载,国产的一级片,亚洲熟色妇,天天操夜夜摸,一区二区三区在线电影
  Home>News Center>World
         
 

US says 'thousands' of missiles missing
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-25 08:46

WASHINGTON - It has been known for years that thousands of light and lethal shoulder-fired missiles are in black-market circulation. What is not known is exactly who has them and whether many have fallen into the hands of terrorists or criminals.

A worrisome puzzle, it explains why the United States and Russia signed an agreement Thursday to cooperate in destroying surplus Soviet-era SA-7s and other portable anti-aircraft missiles. The smallest of these are durable, relatively cheap and easy to smuggle.

A mujahedeen rebel aims a U.S.-made Stinger missile near Gardez, Afghanistan, Dec. 1991. The State Department estimates that about 1 million shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles have been produced worldwide since the 1950s. The number believed to be in the hands of 'nonstate actors,' such as terrorist groups, is 'in the thousands,' the department says. [AP]
A mujahedeen rebel aims a U.S.-made Stinger missile near Gardez, Afghanistan, Dec. 1991. The State Department estimates that about 1 million shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles have been produced worldwide since the 1950s. The number believed to be in the hands of 'nonstate actors,' such as terrorist groups, is 'in the thousands,' the department says. [AP]
The United States also has understandings with several other countries, including Nicaragua, Bosnia, Cambodia and Liberia, for Washington to provide technical assistance or money to destroy anti-aircraft missiles.

The State Department estimates that about 1 million shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles have been produced worldwide since the 1950s. The number believed to be in the hands of "nonstate actors," such as terrorist groups, is "in the thousands," the department says.

"What's driving this is concern about the threat to commercial aviation," said Wade Boese, research director at the private Arms Control Association. A single successful missile attack on a passenger plane could paralyze the airline industry, at enormous economic loss, he said.

There has been only one known attempt against a commercial airliner outside of a war zone. In November 2002, two surface-to-air missiles barely missed an Israeli charter airliner taking off from the airport in Mombasa, Kenya, with tourists returning to Israel. Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network claimed responsibility for the attempt.

The U.S.-Russian agreement signed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov calls for sharing information about exports of these missiles to third countries.

Of note, Boese said, is the absence of a commitment by either Washington or Moscow to halt the exports.

The United States began selling its Stinger shoulder-fired missile to foreign countries in 1982. The CIA secretly transferred an estimated 2,000 to Afghanistan mujahedeen rebels in the mid-1980s, and they were used to down hundreds of Soviet helicopters and transport aircraft.

When the war against the Soviets ended in 1989, the CIA began offering to buy back the Stingers for as much as $150,000 apiece. In his book "Ghost Wars," author Steve Coll wrote that as recently as 1996 the CIA estimated there were about 600 Stingers still unaccounted for in Afghanistan.

There also are an unknown number of SA-7 and other types of shoulder-fired missiles in the hands of insurgents in Iraq.

A study published last year by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said the U.S. government's records on exports of shoulder-fired missiles are "neither complete nor reliable."

The GAO said the Army and the office within the Pentagon that manages arms transfers have conflicted figures on missile exports. One says 7,551 Stingers have been sold abroad since 1982 and the other puts the figure at 8,331. One says Egypt bought 89; the other says Egypt bought none.

The biggest buyer over the period was Taiwan, with more than 2,200, followed by Denmark with 1,140; Japan with between 871 and 1,025, and Italy with as many as 885.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

South Korean nabbed in illegal banking

 

   
 

Man who kidnaps schoolboy seized

 

   
 

Top bank warns of investment rebound

 

   
 

More sectors opened to private investors

 

   
 

ISO meeting fails to back WAPI standard

 

   
 

Jump in accidents makes driver exam harder

 

   
  War saved me from court martial - Musharraf
   
  Bush-Putin summit to tackle nuclear terror
   
  Russia set to sign nuclear deal with Iran, irk US
   
  Identifying tsunami victims slow process
   
  Car bomb in Tikrit kills 10, wounds 25
   
  Oil prices hover near recent highs
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 台东市| 阿巴嘎旗| 西乌珠穆沁旗| 保康县| 怀化市| 鄂托克旗| 泗水县| 郧西县| 高密市| 临沧市| 成都市| 滁州市| 竹山县| 洞口县| 胶州市| 天祝| 大庆市| 万宁市| 东阿县| 胶南市| 虎林市| 峨边| 繁峙县| 普格县| 霍林郭勒市| 北川| 荔浦县| 太谷县| 娄底市| 河东区| 广宗县| 库伦旗| 盖州市| 龙海市| 萝北县| 青阳县| 呼玛县| 明水县| 沙雅县| 峨山| 巧家县| 禄劝| 社旗县| 新巴尔虎左旗| 武威市| 浪卡子县| 阿拉善右旗| 兴文县| 兴宁市| 尼玛县| 偏关县| 建德市| 桦甸市| 读书| 普安县| 福建省| 迁西县| 文水县| 楚雄市| 榆树市| 乾安县| 梅州市| 扎囊县| 搜索| 务川| 南安市| 大田县| 肇源县| 嵊州市| 潜山县| 揭西县| 延津县| 元氏县| 古交市| 华阴市| 鹿邑县| 临夏县| 兴国县| 雷山县| 昭觉县| 武冈市| 友谊县|