June 13,2008: With some trepidation the U.S. is selling Iraq 4,000 night vision goggles, similar to the ones used by American troops. There was some resistance to this sale, by American combat commanders. This was because the corruption within the Iraqi Ministry of Defense is pretty bad. Any choice equipment the Defense Ministry gets, is basically for sale to anyone (al Qaeda, Iran, warlords, gangsters) who are willing to pay enough. Numerous attempts by the Iraqis to suppress these corrupt practices have failed. However, the Iraqis have promised that the night vision goggles will not go missing, at least not via the black market.

Meanwhile, other U.S. commanders point out that lesser quality (but still adequate) night vision goggles are available from many sources (Russia, for example), and some terrorists have been found using these. But not many. The Russian goggles are expensive, and most terrorists do not particularly care to use them. U.S. troops, on the other hand, have long been big fans of night vision. Most of the Iraqi goggles would be used by their commando and SWAT troops, who are more trustworthy than the regular police and soldiers.

So the sale of the goggles to the Iraqis will go ahead, and we shall see what happens.