<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> WorldTribune.com: Mobile Ñ Iraq defense ministry learns it has 19 jet fighters in Serbia

Iraq defense ministry learns it has 19 jet fighters in Serbia

Tuesday, September 22, 2009   E-Mail this story   Free Headline Alerts

BAGHDAD Ñ Iraq is deciding whether to accept or sell MiG aircraft that had been sent to Serbia for overhaul 20 years ago.

Officials said the Defense Ministry and the military were examining the prospect of returning 19 MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighter-jets sent by the former Saddam Hussein regime in 1989. They said Iraq would determine whether the MiGs, delayed by an international embargo, were suitable for modernization.

Officials said the ministry learned only recently that Iraqi fighter-jets had been languishing in Serbia for 20 years. They said the MiG fleet could mark the renewal of an Iraqi fighter-jet capability.

"Our stand right now, at this point is, if they are able to fix them and maintain them, then we will be more than happy to take them back as we lack air defense capabilities," Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed Al Askari said.

"If not, we will find ways of selling them, or finding other ways of benefiting from them," Al Askari told a Sept. 14 briefing during a trip to the United States. "But again, our stand here, is to bring back what belongs to the Iraqi people."

Al Askari was part of an Iraqi military delegation that visited the United States to discuss defense cooperation. The delegation also included Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, spokesman for military operations in Baghdad.

In August, an Iraqi military delegation toured the Serbian factories that contained the aging MiGs. Officials said the project has long been paid for, and Belgrade was waiting for an Iraqi decision on whether to return or sell the aircraft.

"This is a question of [principle], not a question of jet fighters only," Al Askari said. "Saddam Hussein signed a contract with the Serbian government a few years ago to maintain [the aircraft]. We view these as goods of the Iraqi people, of taxpayers Ñ of the Republic of Iraq."

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