RUSSIA AND VENEZUELA ECHOING USSR AND CUBA – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:   There have been a numbe of worrisome reports about Russian arms transfers to the Chavez regime in Venezuela.  This one raises particular concern in terms of American lives.  From the Washington Post:

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Russia delivered at least 1,800 shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles to Venezuela in 2009, U.N. arms control data show, despite vigorous U.S. efforts to stop President Hugo Chavez's stridently anti-American government from acquiring the weapons.

The United States feared that the missiles could be funneled to Marxist guerrillas fighting Colombia's pro-American government or Mexican drug cartels, concerns expressed in U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and first reported in the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

It had been unclear how many of the Russian SA-24 missiles were delivered to Venezuela, though the transfer itself was not secret. Chavez showed off a few dozen at a military parade in April 2009, saying they could "deter whatever aerial aggression against our country." A high-level Russian delegation told American officials in Washington in July of that year that 100 of the missiles had been delivered in the first quarter of 2009.

COMMENT:  One of the great worries of anti-terror officials is that a shoulder-launched missile system could be smuggled into the United States and used against an airliner taking off from an American airport.  The shoulder systems are small and obviously portable.  Getting one, or more, across the Mexican border shouldn't be too difficult, especially if the device was broken down into parts. 

The idea that 1,800 of these shoulder units are in Venezuela is truly chilling.  The missiles can bring down a plane flying as high as 19,000 feet.  And it would be impossible to trace a unit specifically to Chavez. 

If our enemies could get three units into this country, and use them on the same day...you do the casualty math.

We are facing a truly frightening threat, but I wonder how seriously it's being taken.

December 12, 2010