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| Iraq |
| Weapons given to Iraq are missing |
| 2007-08-06 |
| 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 report from the Government Accountability Office indicates that 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. The United States has spent $19.2 billion trying to develop Iraqi security forces since 2003, the GAO said, including at least $2.8 billion to buy and deliver equipment. But the GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005, when security training was led by Gen. David H. Petraeus, who now commands all U.S. forces in Iraq. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #15 The majority of New Orleans that is having the worst problems are those areas that are built BELOW sea level, in direct contravention of all good sense. The historic areas of NO were all built ABOVE sea level, the modern slum zones were built BELOW sea level from the 1920s on. So no, I do NOT own NO anything to clean up their slums. As far as that bridge is concerned, if the Congress critters of Minnesota had been half as concerned with bridge maintenance as they had been with pork projects, that would never have happened. Congress continually diverts DOT funds from road and bridge maintenance to pork projects that involve ribbon-cuttings and photo ops. No one else is responsible for those mistakes - simply the House and Senate members from Minnesota and the Minnesota general public for putting those idiot politicos back into office, term after term. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-08-06 20:52 |
| #14 Let's take care of our own already. Sadly, Nero, that's exactly what we're doing in Iraq. We need a forward base to keep radical Muslims under our boot heel and, eventually, to crush Iran. To some extent, Iraq also serves as flypaper to suck in jihadis from the entire region. Were it not for the more successful revised ROE that Petraeus is operating with I, too, would be pretty discouraged right now. However obliquely, Iraq is allowing us to take the battle to the MME (Muslim Middle East) instead of sitting around waiting for them to attack us. While not the level of pre-emption I would prefer, it is still better than nothing or attempting to negotiate with these worthless turds. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-06 20:18 |
| #13 We have met the enemy and they are us? If this is true then we can no longer trust the competency of the Department of Defense. And this is not the first problem of this type in Iraq. Many tons of heavy explosives disappeared years ago, probably finding their way into the bombs which insurgents have used to blow apart U.S. troops. Combine this with the recent power outages across Iraq and the final Sunnis abandoning al-Maliki's cabinet and what do you get? A self-defeating effort to prop up a dysfunctional government in a country of people who are not worth our tax dollars. We still have to rebuild New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina and now Minneapolis too. We have done more than our share for the Iraqis. Let's take care of our own already. |
| Posted by: Nero Unaising9066 2007-08-06 19:21 |
| #12 Waging war is difficult especially when so many of those that aid the enemy are at home. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-08-06 18:12 |
| #11 This looks like a drive-by attempt to smear Gen Petreus before he gives his report. The Dems are scared. This is what is likely going on. The dhimmis are scared. They want to hang a loss on him before election time. Evil, evil, evil machinations. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-08-06 18:09 |
| #10 To me, this is really the only truly damning piece of info in the article: even now the records are on a spreadsheet that requires three computer screens lined up side by side to view a single row ...which they probably actually do. Government. Efficiency. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-08-06 17:52 |
| #9 OK, this group that's pushing this bs is leftist, anti-Bush, and totally filled with BDS. Still, where are the missing weapons? I'd bet a good percentage of them went home with army trainees that deserted. Another good percentage got lost in the cracks from Iraqi military personnel killed in combat. Some were deliberately stolen, with or without the knowledge of the "caretaker". What the hell? Who cares? Do these idiots have any idea how many hundreds of thousands of AK-47s existed in Iraq before 2003? How many did Hussein distribute to the "felladin", to gangsters, to just about anybody he thought might point it at the Americans? Iraq is a nation awash in arms. We read each day that dozens of AK-47s are being found in arms caches. How many of those are checked for serial numbers that might match these lost arms? These idiots need to pull their heads out and let the sunshine in. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-08-06 17:32 |
| #8 Media still mad there weren't more bodies in Minneapolis. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-08-06 13:27 |
| #7 Al, What you are noticing is just the constantly moving goal-posts by which anything connect to Bush is judged. If Iraq had turned into the equivalent of Austria we'd be hearing endless stories about the Nazis. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2007-08-06 13:24 |
| #6 This looks like a drive-by attempt to smear Gen Petreus before he gives his report. The Dems are scared. Expect more stories like these. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-08-06 13:16 |
| #5 Does anyone care to recall Nour al-Maliki's threat to General Petraeus about handing over American weapons to Shiite militias if we continued our support for the Sunnis? While these incidents may not be connected, the mindset is identical. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-06 11:03 |
| #4 You guys need to chill. This is repackaged propaganda being pumped by the Center for Defense Information, a left-wing group that has long been hostile to the Pentagon establishment. Keep in mind that there is a difference between not being able to account for the weapons and the certainty that they are being used by hostile Iraqis. Many or most of the unaccounted for weapons are probably still in the hands of the folks that they were distributed to in the first place but who can't be identified due to poor record keeping. Of the weapons that have been stolen or otherwise changed hands, many are still in the hands of friendlies or of ordinary Iraqis who just need a weapon for self defense. |
| Posted by: Biff Wellington 2007-08-06 10:55 |
| #3 I second that, bigjim. We should bring these Iraqis in one by one and water board them till we get the exact location of every phalking piece of hardware. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-08-06 08:02 |
| #2 Are we absolutely sure that these sand fleas are worth the effort? Cause I'm thinkin a good ol fashioned dictator might be more like what they deserve. I for one over-estimated them, they want the kill and steal more than they ever wanted a country of their own. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-08-06 07:54 |
| #1 Surprise meter? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-08-06 07:11 |