Via Online Travel Review, Iraqi Airways has agreed to purchase 50 aircraft, 44 of which will come from Boeing.

They say the reason for selecting Boeing is because their “technicians and pilots are more used to planes from the US planemaker” and not because of, unmm, like, the U.S. military occupation.

Boeing planes may well make more sense for the airline, the story doesn’t say which ones or at what price they’re actually going to buy them. And the aircraft apparently won’t be arriving until 2015, so it’s also unclear how really committed this sale is. Again, details in the piece are sparse.

But I just have a hard time believing the airline’s government minder that it was because Iraqi Airways’ current pilots knew how to fly Boeing aircraft (I mean, did Iraqi Airways buy a whole buy of new 727s or something? And do they figure they can’t train their mechanics to work on an Airbus plane over the next seven years before they begin receiving aircraft?).

Still, there’s a certain honesty to any government spokesperson willing to go on the record and not duck the fact that

Some of Iraq’s current planes are so old some countries do not accept them at their airports for safety reasons, the official said.