The Associated Press reports that is stockpiling arms and military equipment including armor-piercing snipers' rifles and night-vision goggles. 's buying spree has raised fears the arms could end up with militants in Iraq:
Much of the military hardware has been hard to hide — sales of tanks and anti-ship missiles by Belarus and China, or helicopters and artillery pieces from Russia have been well documented by U.S. authorities and international nongovernment agencies.
Other weapons are smuggled and may be revealed only by chance — such as the consignment of 12 nuclear-capable cruise missiles delivered by Ukrainian arms dealers to four years ago but divulged by Ukrainian opposition officials only recently.
The smaller weapons and related material is amassing may not be as eye catching. But they are of U.S. concern because of their origin — through U.N.-funded programs or technically advanced western countries — and because they could harm U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan or ultimately , which President Bush has not ruled out as a military target.
Some of the more sophisticated equipment comes from Europe:
Just four months ago, U.S. and Austrian authorities arrested two ians in Vienna on charges of trying to illegally export thousands of sophisticated American night-vision systems for Tehran's military — a powerful force in the region.
In a more recent — and legal — deal, last month took delivery of hundreds of high-powered armor-piercing snipers' rifles with scopes from an Austrian firm, as part of a consignment for 2,000 of the weapons. Confirming the sale, Wolfgang Fuerlinger, head of Steyr Mannlicher GmbH, told AP that U.S. Embassy officials had expressed concerns the arms could make their way to Iraq for use against American troops.
The Austrian government approved the sales in November after concluding that they would be used to fight narcotics smugglers. While wary of 's ultimate purpose, other European countries also have sanctioned similar deals when convinced Tehran would use the equipment to fight the drug trade, said an Austrian official, declining to offer details.
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An internal U.N. summary of the program lists France and Britain as providing night vision equipment, mobile global positioning systems, computers and body armor to help ian anti-smuggler attempts. ian officials confirmed such items were shipped. A diplomat familiar with the program described the shipments of sensitive equipment as "likely in the hundreds."
In London, the Foreign Office confirmed 250 night vision goggles were approved by the British government two years ago for use by ian border patrols along the Afghan border.
Another shipment of 50 body armor vests and 100 body armor plates was en route as of last week, as part of British help to that's exempt from a strict embargo and arms and related material, said Foreign Office officials.
According to the Associated Press, is also seeking approval for a U.N.-funded satellite network that says it needs to fight drug smugglers. The U.S. worries such a network could be used to spy on Americans in Iraq or Afghanistan:
A draft proposal obtained by AP, to create a regional satellite network that would survey Afghanistan, and Iraq is on hold, with shifting it to the U.N. office on drugs and crime after opposition stalled it in the U.N. office on space affairs, also based in Vienna.
"The U.S. and Britain and France had questions as to what the intention and purpose of the proposal is," a senior U.N. official told AP, requesting anonymity because of the sensitive topic. "One of the worries — is it only drugs they are worried about or something they could use to track other things?"
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