Mit den Waffen des Islamischen Staates

Kriege kann man nicht führen ohne Waffen: der Islamische Staat hat viele davon. Einerseits, weil er viel Material der flüchtenden irakischen Armee erobert hat, andererseits aber auch, weil er als Pseudo-Staat sich Nachschub zu organisieren wusste. Wo kommen diese Waffen her ist eine spannende Frage, die in einer Studie von Conflict armament Research (CAR) beantwortet wird. Und ein Teil der Antwort ist mehr als brisant:

„CAR has documented and traced numerous weapon systems in service with IS forces. Many derive from shipments made to the US government, or to entities operating under US government contracts. The United States has acknowledged its support to Syrian opposition forces, orchestrated primarily through resupply from the territories of Jordan and Turkey. All of the shipments originated in EU Member States; in most cases, US retransfers (exports made after purchase by the United States) contravened clauses in end-user certificates (EUCs) issued by the United States to EU supplier governments.

The United States signed these certificates prior to transfer, stated that it was the sole end user of the materiel, and committed not to retransfer the materiel without the supplier government’s prior consent. It did not notify the supplier states concerned before retransferring the materiel.“