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| Europe |
| Iraq war may halt Swedish arms sales to US -report |
| 2003-03-17 |
| Say it ain't so! Sweden may halt arms exports to the United States if U.S.-led forces attack Iraq without a mandate from the United Nations Security Council, the Swedish TT news agency reported on Wednesday. Militarily non-aligned Sweden opposes armed intervention in Iraq without U.N. backing and would consider any such attack a breach of international law. "International law is an important factor in our guidelines," TT quoted Lotta Fogde, a top civil servant dealing with arms control issues, as saying. Lotta Fogde? The government's foreign policy guidelines say arms should not be exported to countries at war or in violation of international law. ...and I'll bet they've NEVER violated that rule before. "We hope we can avoid such a decision but if it comes to that, it will clearly be one of the more difficult questions the government has had to decide in the field of arms exports," Fodge added.Swedish arms exports to the United States are worth approximately 250 million crowns ($30 million) per year. TT quoted Prime Minister Goran Persson as saying the government had not yet discussed the issue. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #6 I think I still see old Swedish relics in the Big-5 sporting goods store over here. They sell for about $70. Not much use except for poachers. |
| Posted by: therien 2003-03-17 20:53:19 |
| #5 There are ZERO major wapons systems of Swedish origin in our inventory [I think the AT-4 disposable anti-tank rocket may be a Swedish design]. In any case it is an empty gesture: we are already in the field with equipment that is already bought & paid for. |
| Posted by: emery 2003-03-17 18:08:24 |
| #4 Where will we get our bofors guns, now, pray tell? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-03-17 12:34:19 |
| #3 The line forms to the right for the 'empty threat' department. |
| Posted by: Frank Martin 2003-03-17 12:31:15 |
| #2 I can think of any number of US gun companies that would jump at a contract to reverse-engineer the bofors and start cranking them out.. :-) |
| Posted by: jrosevear 2003-03-17 13:10:41 |
| #1 There are ZERO major wapons systems of Swedish origin in our inventory [I think the AT-4 disposable anti-tank rocket may be a Swedish design]. In any case it is an empty gesture: we are already in the field with equipment that is already bought & paid for. |
| Posted by: emery 3/17/2003 6:08:24 PM |