Defense denies Blackhawk, Stinger sales to Iraq

The U.S. Department of Defense on Tuesday denied the United States sold to Iraq Blackhawk helicopters or Stinger missiles, contradicting newly published reports that say those weapons may have fallen into the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (Syria), or ISIS, when it captured military bases last week outside Mosul, Iraq.

While the U.S. never has sold the Stinger or its MANPAD, or man-portable air defense, version, Defense Department spokesman Navy Commander William Speaks told WND the U.S. did sell to Iraq an Integrated Air Defense, or IAD, system, although it remains unclear whether the terror-promoting ISIS had captured that system.

To find out which weapons ISIS had captured, Speaks referred WND to the government of Iraq, but requests for comment from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and the Iraqi Embassy in Washington went unanswered.

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