View Full Forums : Iraqi Insurgent With AK-47? Guess Where It Came From


Tudamorf
08-06-2007, 03:01 PM
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/06/MND9RDGCS2.DTL&tsp=1<b>Guns given to Iraq forces are missing

Pentagon can't find 190,000 rifles, pistols - some fear they may be in insurgents' hands</b>

(08-06) 04:00 PDT Washington -- 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 Petraeus, who now commands all U.S. forces in Iraq.

The Pentagon did not dispute the GAO findings, saying it has launched its own investigation and indicating it is working to improve tracking. Although controls have been tightened since 2005, the inability of the United States to track weapons with tools such as serial numbers makes it nearly impossible for the U.S. military to know whether it is battling an enemy equipped by U.S. taxpayers.

"They really have no idea where they are," said Rachel Stohl, a senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information who has studied small-arms trade and received Pentagon briefings on the issue.

One senior Pentagon official acknowledged that some of the weapons probably were being used against U.S. forces. He cited the Iraqi brigade created at Fallujah that quickly dissolved in September 2004 and turned its weapons against the Americans.Your tax dollars at work.

Anka
08-06-2007, 05:51 PM
Seems like an old story. Nobody knows where the weapons in Iraq have gone.

ToKu
08-06-2007, 08:26 PM
Maybe they fell into the hole that the WMD are? :shuffle:

palamin
08-06-2007, 09:07 PM
not surprising. I think they would have figured it out where the insurgents were getting some equipment by things like the 155mm high explosive artillary shells(with arabic lettering) they have been strapping to I.E.Ds and flipping base up and denonating.

Panamah
08-07-2007, 10:12 AM
We lost track of quite a few Billions of dollars of cash we sent over there too.