Audit finds missing U.S. weapons in Iraq

[Barrett808]

Audit finds missing U.S. weapons in Iraq
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Nearly one of every 25 weapons the military bought for Iraqi security forces is missing, a government audit said Sunday. Many others cannot be repaired because parts or technical manuals are lacking.

A second report found "significant challenges remain that put at risk" the U.S. military's goal of strengthening Iraqi security forces by transferring all logistics operations to the defense ministry by the end of 2007.

The Pentagon cannot account for 14,030 weapons — almost 4 percent of the semiautomatic pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons it began supplying to Iraq since the end of 2003, according to a report from the office of the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

The missing weapons will not be tracked easily: The Defense Department registered the serial numbers of only about 10,000 of the 370,251 weapons it provided — less than 3 percent.

The Pentagon spent $133 million on the weapons, and "the capacity of the Iraqi government to provide national security and public order is partly contingent on arming the Iraqi security forces, under the ministries of defense and interior," the report notes. Military officials insisted the weapons either had to be new or never issued to a previous soldier.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_go_ot/iraq_reconstruction_audits

[LiberalHeart]

1. That's a crazy headline -- indicates opposite of what's being reported

Sounds like they found weapons that were missing.

Should be:

Audit Shows US Weapons are Missing in Iraq

[rodeodance]

5. i had the same problem.

[LynnTheDem]

8. It is correct; an audit "finds" things. This audit found

(out) there are weapons missing in Iraq.

[LiberalHeart]

27. Great. Then why didn't they say that in the headline?

It's just sloppy writing.

[Canuckistanian]

25. It's like the old joke

I went to the closet to look for my shoes. And there they were, gone!

[moondust]

2. One more reason it can't be "won."

No way to know who to trust with the weapons necessary to quell the violence.

[happyslug]

3. Remember this is OVER and ABOVE Combat losses.

If a weapon is lost in combat, it is written off as a combat loss. If the weapon is stolen, it is reported as stolen, not "missing" as is here. These are weapons Stolen BEFORE the weapons were ever issued to anyone. My point is this may be just a small number of the weapons lost.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Gotta make sure

you have an armed insurgency. Otherwise, they wouldn't have an excuse to keep us there.

[Rose Siding]

6. Halliburton was hired to replace TRAINED US tech units

Audit KBR and I bet they'll find some of the stuff -or some of the slime who sold them on the black market.

[xchrom]

7. k&r

[wholetruth00]

9. When you arm the world, expect some of those weapons to end up

killing you and yours.

[Heidi]

10. Kick.

:kick:

[Pirate Smile]

11. NYT: U.S. Is Said to Fail in Tracking Arms Shipped to Iraqis

U.S. Is Said to Fail in Tracking Arms Shipped to Iraqis

By JAMES GLANZ
Published: October 30, 2006

The American military has not properly tracked hundreds of thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces and has failed to provide spare parts, maintenance personnel or even repair manuals for most of the weapons given to the Iraqis, a federal report released Sunday has concluded.

The report was undertaken at the request of Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and who recently expressed an assessment far darker than the Bush administration’s on the situation in Iraq.

Mr. Warner sent his request in May to a federal oversight agency, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. He also asked the inspector general to examine whether Iraqi security forces were developing a logistics operation capable of sustaining the hundreds of thousands of troops and police officers the American military says it has trained.

The answers came Sunday from the inspector general’s office, which found discrepancies in American military records on where thousands of 9-millimeter pistols and hundreds of assault rifles and other weapons have ended up. The American military did not even take the elementary step of recording the serial numbers of weapons provided to Iraqis, the inspector general found, making it impossible to track or identify any that might have fallen into the wrong hands.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/30/world/middleeast/30reconstruct.html?hp&ex=1162184400&en=5adc996871893525&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[williesgirl]

12. They can't do ANYTHING right - recommended

[bdamomma]

13. those same guns and weapons are being used to kill our troops

this is shameful, more than that more incompetence and negligence.

[Brundle_Fly]

14. kicking for failures abound

and recommending for incompetence.

[LynnTheDem]

15. Gee, CiC...that's blue on blue.

Motherfucker.

[gratuitous]

16. The NRA should be very happy

"The American military did not even take the elementary step of recording the serial numbers of weapons provided to Iraqis." Absolutely brilliant. Our own weapons are quite likely killing our own troops, and we can't even ascertain who has these guns and rifles.

How do dead bodies spin, Mr. Rove? Can you make them sit up again? Can these dead bones coming back from Iraq live again, Mr. Rove?

[JudyM]

17. They are not even using the most rudimentary process controls. Boot Rummy.

Kudos to my Senator Warner for undertaking some oversight on this even though he's a conservative.

[bemildred]

18. The Pentagon admits that it loses trillions of dollars.

Why is this even news?

[cassiepriam]

21. Wonder who is getting all this "lost" revenue?.

[RamboLiberal]

19. Glad to give this 5th vote for Greatest

From the link: Those problems have occurred even though the United States has spent $133 million on the weapons program and $666 million on Iraqi logistics capabilities.

Wish someone would publish how much taxpayer's money this bunch of crooks has pissed away and stolen on this damn war of theirs!

[Canuckistanian]

20. Only one conclusion to be drawn, in my mind

They're flooding Iraq with guns. Lots and lots of untraceable guns.

And no paperwork (or paper trail), either.

[cassiepriam]

22. Could this be intentional? Oh just saw the previous post.

Yes, Bush wants civil war?

[heliarc]

23. Nothing "failed" and nothing was "lost"

Many were simply conveniently sold off to warlords. It was a complete and utter boondoggle for the Arms dealers. That's what I think at least. Nothing's new about these kinds of discrepancies.

[teryang]

32. These guns are on the way to the Bush ranch in Paraguay

:)

[Eugene]

24. With Pentagon logistics, the insurgents don't need Syria or Iran to help them.

I wouldn't be surprised if many more weapons turn up missing.
Heckofajob Rummy!

K&R

[BlueEyedSon]

26. Thank God they found them.... right????

[LiberalHeart]

28. No, they didn't. The headline misleads.

[BlueEyedSon]

31. oops, i forgot these

:sarcasm:

:rofl:

[teryang]

29. "Hundreds of thousands" of weapons unaccounted for...context

This is the most outrageous corruption I have ever heard of. It particularly distresses me as the administration claims "to have a plan for victory!"

They had no plan in Iraq after the invasion. They had no means to secure the entire country. They had a plan and called it "cakewalk."

How dare they say they have a plan.

To put this in context. Once I served with an ordnance officer responsible for arming the twelve jet bombers in our squadron. The aircraft gattling gun expended hundreds of rounds of ammo in brief moments. After a two week deployment with the airwing at Fallon, Nevada, after dropping tons of bombs, and expending tens of thousands of rounds of 20mm in various exercises, the ordnance officer was relieved of his duties, disciplined and forced to retire, after failing to account for one, I say again, one round of 20mm ammunition. The round was found by the way.

The deception in the headline is just one more disinformation outrage.

[twaddler01]

30. Don't worry, they won't use them against us...

:sarcasm:

[Up2Late]

33. That is a really poor headline: Thousands of U.S.-Bought Weapons Lost in Iraq...

...is a little better: <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6407177>