Guess who Saddam's favourite server manufacturer is

The dictator goes shopping in Edinburgh

By Kieren McCarthy, 13th February 2001

Saddam Hussein is apparently to blame for over £1 million of stolen computer equipment in Edinburgh (Scotland, for our foreign readers). The Iraqi dictator has obviously tired of PlayStation 2s and wants the real stuff. Presumably he needs it for some evil purposes in a bid to take over the world - or is that just state-induced blinkered hatred coming through?

Over the last nine months, there have been frequent raids on two universities in Edinburgh as well the Royal Observatory. In the latest robberies, over £110,000 worth of computer equipment - workstations, servers, routers etc, etc were nicked. And here's the rub - Saddam's preferred manufacturer is Sun. In each case it was Sun-branded goods that went astray. Now that's a claim that Sun should run with the slogan: "Sun - the international dictator's only choice."

This bizarre story comes courtesy of Edinburghnews.com, which spoke to the officers in charge of investigating the thefts and were told that the coppers are convinced it's all down to a gang hired by clients in the Middle East. The equipment, they believe, is being shipped to Iraq to be used in hi-tech weapons programmes (there's the evil plans bit).

Why doesn't Saddam just pop down the local PC World? No, it's nothing to do with customer service, it's the sanctions see. We (UK, US etc) won't let him. Not legitimately anyway. Cause then he'd build a big evil robot like in Superman 3. And we can't give him much medicine either because he'll only use to keep people alive. But then he is a baddy.

Anyway, the raids are apparently being carried out by a London gang that steal to order. The equipment is then sent via a Third World country to Iraq. Amazing stuff. ®