Syrian rebels: buying bullets from the other side

[tabatha]

But insurgent commanders say most of their weapons come from the very army they're fighting, either seized or purchased in a thriving illicit trade. Intermediaries such as a merchant known as Abu Hussein arrange arms deals between the two sides.

Abu Hussein described how the rebels will shoot a few times at a government checkpoint, giving soldiers the cover to fire off their weapons. If the troops expend 200 bullets, Abu Hussein said, they may tell their superiors that 400 bullets were fired. The remaining 200 bullets will be sold to the rebels, typically for 150 Syrian pounds (about $2.50) per bullet.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-rebels-20120304,0,2567510.story?page=1

[leveymg]

1. The FSA seems to be rolling in cash. Wonder who gave it to them, or did they "capture" that, too?

Everything you post seems to prove that this war is all about foreign intervention, and Saudi/GCC funds keep it going.

[leveymg]

2. The Saudis are also getting ripped off. FSA should buy it on-line - $14 for a box of 100

Winchester Ammo Q3174 USA 7.62x39 123Gr. FMJ/20
$14 online
5 reviews
Description:USA Brand Rifle Ammunition - Features two specially packaged hollow point loads for the high volume, high accuracy shooting requirements of serious varmint hunters. Additional Information .62x39mmDescription: USA Brand Rifle Ammunition Features two specially packaged hollow point loads for the high volume, high accuracy shooting requirements of serious varmint hunters. Additional Information: 7.62x39mm
Add to Shopping List

Online stores

[Johnny Rico]

4. I think you may be misreading that online ad.

If you go to Cheaper Than Dirt, which has pretty good prices, the cheapest Winchester 7.62x39 ammo is $14.76 for a box of 20 rounds...and that's out of stock!

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ItemListing.aspx?mfgid=333&catid=606

Do you have a link for Winchester 7.62x39 at $14 per hundred? If you do, I'll take 10,000 rounds (not joking!)

[leveymg]

5. Whoever's footing the bill for the FSA is still getting seriously ripped off.

Unless it's by Haliburton standards.

So, what else is new? Every time the Saudis step out, they get their pockets picked. It's expected on both ends.

How long does it take you to shoot 10K rounds? Just curious. (I don't traffic in AK rounds, so I'll let you Google it yourself. It should take you 15 seconds or less.)

[Johnny Rico]

6. I wouldn't shoot them. I'd sell them.

10K rounds of 7.62x39 at $14/hundred = $1400.

I can sell Winchester 7.62x39 at Gunbroker.com for $50/hundred in a heartbeat. $5000 - $1400 equals an insta-profit of $3600.

As for shooting 10K rounds through a semi-auto AK-47...as a practical matter, anything more than (just guessing here) 500 rounds per hour would overheat the gun to the point the hand guards would start smoking from the heat, so...20 hours?

[leveymg]

8. So, you agree the FSA is ripping off their Saudi sponsors?

Last edited Sun Mar 11, 2012, 11:04 PM - Edit history (1)

Just asking.

I love the smell of cordite in the morning in Homs. It smells like a nice villa on the Adriatic coast in Bosnia.

http://imagesus.homeaway.com/mda01/6713d3366773d23a1fc761c0f13645213e481737

[Johnny Rico]

9. At that price? Absolutely.

I can do better than that at Wal-Mart...

[leveymg]

10. "War is a racket." - Gen. Smedley Butler.

Nothing ever much changes with that.

[tabatha]

13. Yep, it would do a world of good if dictators read that book and not declare war on their own people

for protesting peacefully.

[leveymg]

14. That book needs a 21st Century sequel: "Regime Change is a Racket"

Here's the basic outline, "A Clean Break", by PNAC, written in 1996 by Feith, Wurmser, and Perle, the neocons in the Pentagon Office of Special Projects (OSP) who cooked up the WMD deception to justify the invasion of Iraq. That document outlined a strategy for Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then the Israeli PM, of regime change in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and finally Iran, and a posture of defiance by Israel run (by its Right-wing) against United States efforts to craft an equitable two-state solution. That proved to be a remarkably prescient work:

An October 2003 editorial in The Nation criticized the Syria Accountability Act and connected it to the 'Clean Break' report and authors:

"To properly understand the Syria Accountability Act, one has to go back to a 1996 document, 'A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,' drafted by a team of advisers to Benjamin Netanyahu in his run for prime minister of Israel. The authors included current Bush advisers Richard Perle and Douglas Feith. 'Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil,' they wrote, calling for 'striking Syrian military targets in Lebanon, and should that prove insufficient, striking at select targets in Syria proper.' No wonder Perle was delighted by the Israeli strike. 'It will help the peace process,' he told the Washington Post, adding later that the United States itself might have to attack Syria. But what Perle means by 'helping the peace process' is not resolving the conflict by bringing about a viable, sovereign Palestinian state but rather - as underscored in 'A Clean Break' - 'transcending the Arab-Israeli conflict' altogether by forcing the Arabs to accept most, if not all, of Israel's territorial conquests and its nuclear hegemony in the region."

[Fool Count]

7. At least the Syrian soldiers get a good deal on those bullets and can support their

families with the Saudi money. But more likely the rebels put $2.50 per bullet price in the financial
statements and requests which they send to Qataris and Saudis, while paying only a buck per
bullet, and pocket the difference. Who can blame them. they have families to feed too. Either
way that is the oil sheiks who are getting ripped off. No wonder they are so eager for UN permission
to supply the rebels with ammo legally - would save them a lot of money. The rebels would surely
prefer cash though.

[tabatha]

12. There has been NO Saudi money up until about last week's declaration.

I still do not know if any money has reached them.

Btw, Iran has given money, assets and men to already superior military.

[tabatha]

11. The FSA are NOT rolling in cash.

These people bought it out of their own pockets, or were funded by Syrian businessmen.

They have not been funded from outside.

Last week Saudi Arabia announced it would provide money for the first time.

It is tiring having to correct falsehoods.

[saras]

3. With these new laser-guided ones, maybe they can buy them midflight and turn them around...