rocket launchers and the BATF

[Bobrogg]

This is not good.

California Warehouse Searched for Weapons

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (AP) - Dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement agents searched a warehouse near Oakland International Airport Saturday for weapons including rocket launchers, officials said.

Federal officials would not reveal the exact nature of the investigation, but they said the search was not related to terrorism.



``We seized a few documents. Other than that, it's an ongoing investigation,'' said Marti McKee, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. ``We will continue to look until all investigative leads are exhausted.''

Five men who were detained for questioning Friday have all been released, McKee said.

About 200 agents from a dozen different agencies took part in the raid, which began around 6 a.m. Friday and continued Saturday. On Friday, authorities barred aircraft from flying over the site for three and a half hours while they took over the 12-acre, five-building warehouse complex in San Leandro.

The search warrant for the investigation was under seal, but U.S. Magistrate Edward Chen told The San Francisco Chronicle: ``The warrant was for a bunch of devices for rockets that could be launched from military vehicles and (for) some M-16s,'' semiautomatic assault rifles used by the U.S. military.

Federal officials confirmed Saturday that rocket launchers and other military weaponry were among the items sought by authorities.

``One reason we had so many personnel was because of the types of items we were looking for,'' McKee said Saturday. ``Because it's military weaponry, there is significant concern.''

 

[Neil]

At first I thought you meant OUR rocket launchers! what? are they gonna shut down Estes for making Porta-Pads!?

Well, if they are shoulder-fired missile launchers, good. I hope it was a succes. If its OUR stuff, BAD! (what next... ). How would anyone get M16s if they are military weapons? Shouldent they keep track of all those guns???

 

[wwattles]

Neil,
Like the AK-47, the M-16 has been widely exported around the world. The AK is just a more available, cheaper, and (arguably) reliable weapon. There are literally thousands of M-16's out there that we have no idea about who has them now.

WW

 

[Neil]

I really dont know what I am talking about here, so I think ill STOP talking so I dont get myself in trouble...


Anyone care to give a kid a history lesson about US forein policy with emphasis on military equipment over the last two decades?

Thanx.

 

[wwattles]

Much of it can be summed up in the following adage:

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

So we sold weapons to the folks that were fighting against the people we didn't like, even though they weren't terribly great themselves. That's how Iraq got F-14's, the Afghani's got Stinger missiles, and most of the western world got M-16's. We've sold just about every kind of technology we make to the Israeli's, and in a rather odd attempt to garner favorable economic position, President Clinton gave ICBM guidance technology to the Chinese. The Japanese have destroyers that look like clones of our Arleigh Burke class destroyers (phased array systems and all), the Bahraini's and Turks actually have some of our decommisioned Oliver Hazzard Perry class Frigates.

There are still a few tricks up our sleeves, like stealth, cruise missile guidance, and the landing gear system of the B-52, that we've never given up to anyone (although the Soviets tried desperately for years to figure out the last one).

That's the low-bandwidth version.

WW

 

[not a lib]

We let japan make those ships!
We also let them build F15's to cover their part of the world.

 

[cydermaster]

Unfortunatly, this type of behaviour by our Governments is good for our economies. Us Brits had a right scam going on a few years ago: Selling Land Mines to dodgy regimes, then selling the expertese to clear them after the confict. <-- A classic 'Win/Win' situation.

 

[Neil]

I read somewhere about us giving Iraq military stuff because they were fighting someone we were fighting... Not the best way to chose your allies, if you ask me...


We gave China ICBM guidance plans!? what WERE we thinking??? Nothing against China, but I think our ICBM plans should be kept to ourselves, dont you??????? :kill:

Oh the ways some people make money... :kill: Kind of like shooting someone and selling thier family the burial plot! :kill:

 

[Justy]

Originally posted by slim_t
Actually, we sold them our old F15's, and F18's.
I saw them flying from an airbase while in Japan, and asked the Japanese guy with us if they were like ours. He laughed and said, yes, EXACTLY like yours. Then told me how they got them.

But hey, they're our friends now, right?

Tim

Not just friends, but it goes back to the "enemy of my enemy" thing. Equipping Japan with the latest and greatest in American stuff-what-kills technology meant that there was another thing for those daggum Commies to think about in the region.

Japan's fighter jets include the F-15J / F-15JD, which is simply an F-15 built in Japan under license; the F-4EJ, again a locally built F-4E Phantom II; the F-1, which is a domestic design supersonic fighter; and the F-2, which is a redesigned F-16.

 

[Neil]

So we are trying to make sure the Russians dont get too cocky over there by aiming goodness knows what at them from as many different countries as possible, or what? I still dont quite understand why we are giving Japan all these planes, guns, and missiles...

But if we are giving China ICBM guidance technology, why are we giving Japan planes to keep communists in check? isnt China a communist country (or were they recently? Were they ever?)? im so confused...

Should I even be trying to understand all this stuff?

 

[Ryan S.]

Originally posted by wwattles
President Clinton gave ICBM guidance technology to the Chinese.

*sigh*

we give people military support because they are our allies and in return we expect help from then in confict. Sometimes we give them to much stuff in the case of the Iraqi's

 

[kenobi65]

Originally posted by Neil
So we are trying to make sure the Russians dont get too cocky over there by aiming goodness knows what at them from as many different countries as possible, or what?

Well, we *were*, but that was back pre-1991, when they weren't just the Russians, they were the Soviets.

An awful lot of our foreign policy between WWII and 1990 or so focused on thwarting the Soviets. Our government saw them as the single biggest threat to us, by far. Thus, we supported a lot of countries largely (solely?) because they weren't Communist, and we didn't want them to become so.

Oh, and we supported Iraq in the 1980s because they were at war with Iran, and Iran *really* hated us at the time (as opposed to now, when it appears that Iran just sort of hates us.)

Yes, Neil, this can all make your head swim...

 

[Neil]

Yep.Head is swimming.

I dont know WHAT to think...

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

...the landing gear system of the B-52, that we've never given up to anyone (although the Soviets tried desperately for years to figure out the last one).

Are you sayiung that landing a BUFF on a unicycle is hard to figure out?

It's the training wheels at the wingtips that make it work.

 

[wwattles]

Actually, the thing that they couldn't figure out was how to make the landing gear always align with the runway, no matter what the angle of aircraft was as it was crabbing into the wind. So if the plane was crabbing at a 10 degree angle, the undercarriage would crab exactly 10 degrees the opposite way, so when the plane touched down, they were going straight down the runway! Soviets tried for years... could never make it work without a huge amount of mechanical devices getting in the way.

WW

 

[loopy]

Originally posted by kenobi65


Oh, and we supported Iraq in the 1980s because they were at war with Iran, and Iran *really* hated us at the time (as opposed to now, when it appears that Iran just sort of hates us.)

Although, most in Iran still refer to us as "The Great Satan"...lol

 

[WiK]

Its all politics.


'Nuff said.

 

[WiK]

Hmmm I suppose so