US to buy ammunition from Taiwan

[bemildred]

The US has plans to buy hundreds of millions of bullets from Taiwan in the first such deal ever as its supplies run low due to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Citing Taiwanese military sources, the United Evening News report said Washington had made the request to acquire some 300 million 5.56-millimetre rifle bullets for an estimated $62 million.

The deal is yet to be finalised pending price negotiations, and - in line with its usual practice - Taiwan's defence ministry declined to comment on the report.

Taiwan produces some 400 million such bullets annually, according to the paper.

al Jazeera

[aikido15]

1. Yipeeeee!

We're all gonna die!

[pinniped]

2. They could probably save more buying Norinco or Wolf.

( Chinese and Russian made bullets )

They both make 5.56mm.

[aikido15]

3. They could save even more...

by not buying any!

[NickB79]

13. Ugh, that stuff sucks

I will never again fire Wolf in my rifle, that stuff gummed up the action with it's laquer coating, and was horribly inaccurate.

[pinniped]

21. LOL!...some people seem to love that stuff.

I only used 5.56 PMC, Fed, and Win.

[Az_lefty]

4. We're out of bullets?

who's running this fucking War? /-sarcasm/

[kurtyboy]

15. Will the war someday include us getting supplies from

our enemies? It gets more Orwellian all the time, I swear...

[fob]

16. Of course we will! Lt Milo w Minderbinder bush* is at the controls,

have no fear, it WILL be fucked up beyond all repair!

/madness

[Anakin Skywalker]

18. Scary, isn't it?

The rethug mentality that leads to Orwellian scenarios just makes me laugh. The great failure of CONservatives is their inability to think things out to their ends.

[NickB79]

32. Plenty of troops are doing that right now

Grabbing AK-47's from captured combatants when they get the chance. There is plenty of ammo for AK's around Iraq, but not much for the M4's and M16's.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

5. Thank you corporatism

Now we don't even have the manufacturing capacity to make our own bullets.

[durablend]

6. I wonder if they have a yellow smiley face engraved on them?

???????????????????????????????

[Massachusetts]

7. Hey GW (the chimp)

I'll see you in HELL!:evilgrin:

[sarcasmo]

8. Millions out of work here let's make bullets elsewhere?

I question this only because it comes from al Jazeera. It makes no sense why we would buy bullets for our weapons from Taiwan, but none of Bushco makes sense.

[KansDem]

19. I agree...we have more gun owners that any other country...

but yet we can't manufacture enough ammunition for Bush's wars?

How about rallying gun owners who reload to take up the slack? They could be REAL patriots, turning out box after box of ammunition in their garages and basements to be used in wars to enhance Bush Family interests!

[Torque67]

9. Just as long as

They dont use the same packaging that kids toys come in. You need a pair of wirecutters and a sharp knife to open the average "little people" toy. Need more soldiers just to get the bullets out of the packaging.

[oly]

10. That's the ticket -- outsource the whole frigging war.

[denverbill]

11. Hey, that's over 10 bullets per Iraqi citizen! That oughta be enough!

</sarcasm>

[progressoid]

12. Oh, holy shit. And this news comes to us from al Jazeera!

[NickB79]

14. The rightwingers on AR15.com are crying for lack of ammo

"We ain't got us no blastin ammo, and my SHTF (shit hits the fan) supply is fading fast."

I've been reading with sad amusement over there how so many AR15 owners (virtually all Bush supporters) have been whining about how the price of ammo for their guns is shooting through the roof, and the supply of military surplus ammo they used to buy is drying up. Figures, support the war until they can't get ammo for their toys, then piss and moan about it.

[pinniped]

20. Those so-called people over there make me sick.

I too noticed most were piece of shit * supporters with a few Libs.

Make a comment about that piece of shit vp's so-called former company fleecing the American taxpayers and they refuse to acknowledge it and get mad. Sure, I don't want to read about it so it didn't happen.

Those jerks remind me of the suspect on Cops who was hiding under the child's swimming pool in someone's backyard. The police kicked the swimming pool over and the suspect was there holding his hands over his eyes.

"Sure, if I can't see them they can't see me," was the comment made by the arresting officer.

How did they use up their Y2K ammo so fast?

[DoNotRefill]

17. Better Taiwan....

than IMI in Israel...

[William Bloode]

22. I have been warning of this....

For sometime. Our power always came from our ability to manufacture our own supplies, and lots of them. How are we going to win any long term war without the ability to manufacture our own supplies?

[rodeodance]

24. we are a information/service society now-not a manufactory society

[William Bloode]

26. Well i guess...

We can inform our service the enemy to death. I am sure that will work great!

[NuttyFluffers]

23. charge us through the nose taiwan!

then maybe you can buy yourself a military for the time when america collapses so you can defend yourself from chinese aggression. repeat: it's not a matter of 'if' america falls and china attacks, it's a matter of when. so cash in your chits while you can taiwan.

[Rainscents]

25. Off Loading Bullets...

Our own bullets we off loaded... some day, our enemy is going to use thoes bullets at us here in USA and where are we going get the bullets when we can't make it here??? Lets say... Chinese and US had all out war... We cannot buy bullets from Tawain because Chinese own that country.

[tiredofthisstuff]

27. Look at the quality of products produced in Taiwan.

Just go to Walmart and look at where most of the products are made. China, Japan, Taiwan. Most of these products are substandard at best. Why would their bullets be any better? That's all we need, to put our troops in more danger.

You can't tell me that the US doesn't have enough production power to meet the demand. Or maybe you can..... What was I thinking?:shrug:

I will return to my enlightening reading of Chaos Theory. Seems to fit now!

[AlbizuX]

28. do we need a further symbol of how bad a state we are in

The Great Arsenal of Democracy...has now overstretched itself to the point that it depends on territories (not even a country, Taiwan is a province of China) to build its bullets....and all this with unemployment in this country?

What a sorry state we've allowed ourselves to fall....

[NYC]

29. Outsourcing.

Does anyone remember the Chinese made cots the U.S. soldiers were using in Kuwait? They were collapsing under the weight of the soldiers.

Also, who gets the clever idea of buying bullets from an outside country? How can you outsource what you need (or will someday need) for defense? (And I mean defense, not war.)

[0007]

30. ...all in the name of a lie!

"Praise the Lord and pass the Ammunition" Remember that song?

[CatholicEdHead]

31. War on the cheap

Save money by having them made overseas and keep industry out of the US.

Very poor planning.

[NYC]

33. Gallingly poor planning.

[leftchick]

34. Indeed. Also notice who is reporting this...

it ain't the NYT.