Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=8/8/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PENTAGON/IRAQ (S-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-306308

BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: To some, it might sound like shipping oil to an OPEC member or ice to Antarctica but, as V-O-A Defense Correspondent Alex Belida reports, the Pentagon says there are good reasons why it's planning to send AK-47 firearms to Iraq.

TEXT: In Iraq, hardly a day goes by that the U-S military doesn't report finding AK-47s - sometimes just handfuls, sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds. There is no total, but Pentagon officials say the numbers are in the thousands, perhaps the tens of thousands.

Despite this, the Baghdad-based, U-S run Coalition Provisional Authority has been soliciting bids from arms dealers to supply 34 thousand of the Russian-design assault rifles for Iraq's new security forces.

A Pentagon spokesman says the reason for looking to buy new AK-47s is simple - the weapons seized so far in Iraq are not sufficient in either quantity or quality for a new Army or the police. The spokesman says the U-S military does not want to give Iraqis unserviceable, hand-me-downs (EDS: used weapons). It also doesn't want to force U-S made assault rifles on Iraq because these would be unfamiliar and could run into servicing and maintenance complications.

One potential beneficiary could be Poland, a close U-S ally whose troops took part in the war in Iraq. Its arms industry is hoping to win the bid. (Signed)

NEB/BEL/PT/RH