Salah Malkawi/Getty Images

Every two years, military and government VIPs from around the world descend on Amman, Jordan for the Special Operations Forces Exhibition, the Middle East's largest military equipment trade show. Exhibitors and buyers from the United States and Britain rub shoulders with their counterparts from Libya and Syria, all in the name of superior military capability.

For more images from the convention floor at SOFEX 2008, check out the new FP photo essay, "Where the World Shops for Weapons."