and some lose 190,000 WEAPONS
(not the first time i mentioned this story)
US cannot account for 190,000 guns in Iraq: report
The US government cannot account for 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to an investigation carried out by the Government Accountability Office.
According to the July 31 report, the military "cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armour and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces."
The weapons disappeared from records between June 2004 and September 2005, as the military struggled to rebuild the disbanded Iraqi forces from scratch amid increasing attacks from Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
Since 2004 the military "has not consistently collected supporting records confirming the dates the equipment was received, the quantities of equipment delivered, or the Iraqi units receiving the items," the report said.
"Since 2006 the command has placed greater emphasis on collecting the supporting documents. However, GAO's review of the January 2007 property books found continuing problems with missing and incomplete records."..........
update: monday august 6th: the wapo finally prints the story (a couple of days after other sources i might add)
Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing
GAO Estimates 30% of Arms Are Unaccounted For
By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer
The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.
The author of the report from the Government Accountability Office says U.S. military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops. The highest previous estimate of unaccounted-for weapons was 14,000, in a report issued last year by the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction..........
30%? 30% is a GIANT number. that's a load o' weapsons to go 'missing'
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6 comments:
We moved yesterday and I swear half of those weapons are in these damned boxes stacked all through my new living and dining room. Especially that box marked "clothes" that feels more like bricks. I'm sure the government just handed some of those weapons to the kids and they boxed 'em up and we hauled them up a flight of stairs.
Seriously though . . . we're the most incompetent corrupt empire this world has ever seen.
I second CV's last statement. This careless loss of weapons is very different from my active army time. One unit came back in from a field training exercise, in this country, one time missing a single M-16. Concertina wire was strung all around the barracks of the battalion and ALL personnel were forced to stay in them until the weapon was found, no exception with meals being brought in. The entire unit was trucked out to the areas every morning to search for the missing weapon. it took about two weeks until it was found. That the military let so many weapons slip away is unbelievable, but few things about this war make sense.
bb and rick, yup corrupt AND incompetent.
oh bb i'm curious, where WAS it found?
Somehow "stashed" under a log. Other than that, I heard nothing else.
hmmmmmmm odd. but thanks bb!
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