Enemy SAMs in America?

Multiple news reports say that the terrorists may have smuggled shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles into the United States. It is said the missiles are either Russian-made SA-7 missiles or American-made Stinger missiles left over from the Afghans' war against the Soviets in the 1980s.

We know not all the Stingers we sent to the Afghan mujahideen were expended or returned. When the United States began American-flagging oil tankers in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s as part of Operation Earnest Will, we sent specially equipped Army aviation units of the 18th Aviation Brigade to the Gulf to protect the tankers from Iranian gunboats.

I played a small role in that operation. I remember well a briefing to the major general who was the deputy commander of XVIII Airborne Corps, the superior headquarters to the 18th Aviation Brigade. An operations officer was dismayed to report that they had discovered the Iranians had Stingers. Where did they get them? They were trying to find out.

The general, whose name I forget, snorted and said of course the Iranians bought the Stingers from the mujahideen. "The CIA was handing the missiles out like candy and you can bet these things will turn up around the Middle East for years to come," he said. How prescient he was.

So maybe some Stingers are here, in the wrong hands. Sometimes the Law of Unintended Consequences comes fully into play.