U.S. To Hand Over Iraq Bases, Equipment Worth Billions

[cal04]

Source: Huffington Post

With just over three months until the last U.S. troops are currently due to leave Iraq, the Department of Defense is engaged in a mad dash to give away things that cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars to buy and build.

The giveaways include enormous, elaborate military bases and vast amounts of military equipment that will be turned over to the Iraqis, mostly just to save the expense of bringing it home.

"It's all sunk costs," said retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who oversaw the training of Iraqi soldiers from 2003 to 2004. "It's money that we spent and we're not going to recoup."

(snip)
Rather than strip those bases clean and ship everything home, Defense Department officials tell The Huffington Post that over 2.4 million pieces of equipment worth a total of at least $250 million -- everything from tanks and trucks to office furniture and latrines -- have been given away to the Iraqi government in the past year, with the pace of transfers expected to increase dramatically in the coming months.



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/26/iraq-withdrawal-us-bases-equipment_n_975463.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Probably not worth the effort

to list it all on ebay.

[ixion]

2. The DoD loves to spend taxpayer money

:grr:

Stuff like this just makes me ill.

[raccoon]

10. Sure they do, they always get a blank check, no matter what decade, no matter what war. nt

[PavePusher]

42. Sure we do.

That's why we have airplanes we can't afford parts for out on the flight-line.

But oversimplifacation works so much... easier.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. Please pay no attention to this.

Today's meme is $16 muffins. Repeat, $16 muffins.

Thank you for your cooperation.

[SammyWinstonJack]

30. "It's money we spent and we're not going to recoup." How nice!

:grr:


While Americans go hungry, can't afford medical care, infrastructure crumbles and social safety nets are targeted etc, the MIC foolishly waste taxpayer monies on resource wars that neither benefit the American public or the Country that we are claiming to bring democracy too. :eyes:

The MIC needs some austerity measure put into place, lots and lots

[Vinca]

3. I wonder how long it will take before the equipment is used against us.

Not necessarily by Iraq, but by others who are probably lining up to buy the stuff.

[Historic NY]

4. They will just buy new stuff as the cycle of war continues.

[on point]

5. A drop in the bucket in the war reparations we owe them for an illegal war

My guess is we will end up being on the hook for about a trillion dollars to pay for all the damage we caused to their infrastructure and economy as a result of the war crime committed by George Bush.

Once we are out I wouldn't be surprised if they start pushing for payment, though it may be called reconstruction aid.....

[Prospero1]

6. They've got all that oil...

can't they pay for it?

[pam4water]

7. Will probably fall into decay.

[Ready4Change]

12. Yep.

Some of it, like vehicles, will get re purposed. But much else, like a huge airbase for planes Iraq doesn't have and can't afford, will just sit and crumble.

Of course, if Iraq itself falls apart and we wind up going back in, we can bomb some of it, then spend money rebuilding it.

[Demeter]

8. IRaqi Yard Sale! Two for One for Al-qaida Customers! Tell Your Friends!

If there's any justice, they will sell it to Iran for real aid....

[1776Forever]

9. From the article: "In a crazy way, what we left in Iraq was our good credit rating."

U.S. To Hand Over Iraq Bases, Equipment Worth Billions
First Posted: 9/26/11 07:
Dan Froomkin

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/26/iraq-withdrawal-us-bases-equipment_n_975463.html?page=2

......Hurlburt's concern is not so much that the U.S. is giving away the bases and the equipment, but that all these things that so much money was spent on aren't necessarily going to do their new owners much good. "At least, you would like if we were leaving them there, they would be useful to Iraqis," she said.

And it's an awful lot of stuff. "I'm thinking about the size of what was wasted there, and thinking about how what we spent in Iraq was all borrowed," she said. "In a crazy way, what we left in Iraq was our good credit rating."

.....

Sad:(

[captain jack]

11. Can't continue the cycle of war without both sides being armed, right?

Isn't this why the ATF let the drug cartels get all those weapons down Mexico way? Any war is good business and "America's business is business."

[bongbong]

13. Now the problem is obvious!

We keep giving away billions worth of weapons to people who we later have to start a war against! No wonder they have to keep spending trillions on new weapons!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[midnight]

21. You make an excellent point.....

[Javaman]

14. Much of it will be sold off to third parties.

Iraq will now either have to sign a trade agreement for the parts for that equipment or sell it off.

They don't have the means to maintain, let alone pay for the upkeep for those vehicles.

If they are forced into a trade agreement, it's just another way the US keeps it's thumb on a nations head. The US uses the same financial tactics as the IMF.

And if Iraq, doesn't sign that agreement or instead signs a watered down version of it, the vehicles, while still functional, will be sold off to used arms dealers (yes they exist. Much like used car dealers).

Granted, the US will strip out any "sensitive tech", before handing anything over to Iraq.

In a few years, you will see old US APC's, and the like, in Asia and in Africa.

[2Design]

16. they'll be used in a war against usa in the future as has happened before

[valerief]

17. Yeah, but rich people got rich from it and that's all that matters. That's the only thing in the

world that matters. Rich people must get richer. Everyone else can die and go to hell.

That's the message we get every hour of every day from every media source.

[plumbob]

33. About as well said as can be.

Since the Pentagon can't account for more than NINE TRILLION dollars they've spent, what's a few billion more?

[gtar100]

18. Not that we could have used that money for something better...

like education, health care, jobs, emergency aid.

No. When it comes to military spending, the American people are just a "source" of income. To hell with out needs.

[jwirr]

19. This practice is not new. Did we bring heavy equipment home from

any recent wars?

[mckara]

20. The United States will Recoup Its Losses

Apparently, few people here understand how the United States recoups its "beneficence" with "foreign aid." The best explanation can be found in Michael Hudson's book, Super Imperialism.

[Major Nikon]

22. Makes you proud to be a fucking American, doesn't it?

It almost makes you glad that the best excuse Shrub could come up with for a preemptive invasion of a sovereign nation was that god had told him to do it. And to think, we were only one pretzel away from Dick controlling everything directly rather than having to do it with his hand up Shrub's back.

[AlbertCat]

23. They should destroy it all.

Show everyone exactly how wasteful this Bush/Cheney fiasco.... as well as other wars... are.

It's not like we haven't left a bunch of rubble there anyway.

[otohara]

24. Saw This Coming

it's easy to get on the island, not so much getting off.

[No Elephants]

25. Thing is, a lot of that stuff got built over and over and over and over.

We'd no sooner build, say a bridge, than the resistance would destroy it.

Or maybe we would or Halliburton would and say it was the resistance. Who knows?

Then Bechtel or Halliburton or whomever would re-build it.

They someone would destroy it again.

Then Bechtel or Halliburton or whomever would re-build it.

[classysassy]

26. The evil that man does come back to haunt him

Our men and women in uniformw will suffer because of the congress and the Bush gang.Those weapons of mass destruction wiil soon surface and cause grief but the war profiteers will not suffer,shame on our citizens for supporting such evil men and women.

[Hoosier Daddy]

27. Just proving (once again) how generous we are!

:sarcasm:

[whathappened]

28. thats b.s

i want a free tank , or anything there leaving behind , how come we get to pay for it , but don't get to have any of what there giving away , next time we see what they leave , it maybe pointed at our people

[KoKo]

29. Kick!

[marasinghe]

31. good. the poor bastards can put up a marginally better defense, next time some scumbags come over -

to kill their children & steal their oil.

and throw in all the living members of the bush admin. with the package.

[Tx4obama]

32. The majority of equipment and supplies that was in Iraq was already sent to Afghanistan

so what they are leaving is less than 50% of what was there.

[tabasco]

34. Send a thank you note to AWOL Bush.

The least you could do.

[lovuian]

35. Billions and Billions and Trillions

stolen from the American people and the Iraqis

[No Elephants]

36. When we want to stay in a country, we say we can't leave because of the equipment--logistics, yada

yada.

And when we want to leave, we say leaving the equipment behind is no biggie.

Yet, some people condemn us for being skeptical of what government tells us.

The Ministry of Truth has spoken. And it speaks the truth. Even if we have to revise history to prove it.

[Ash_F]

37. A bunch of weapons? Hope they leave more useful stuff....

like generators, AC units, water filtration systems, hospital supplies ect.

Least they could do don't you think?

[sarcasmo]

38. Always money to waste but no money for social programs, the Empire makes me ill.

[DCBob]

39. makes sense to me..

what would be the alternative?

[Vidar]

40. Of course some of the weapons in this giveaway will be used

on us at a future date, but our military-industrial complex is only too happy to supply both sides of any conflict.

[Sabriel]

41. Now they'll have some place to store those pallets of hundred $ bills

We're giving them billions in cash and now storage, too!

[totodeinhere]

43. Iran says thank you USA for all of the war making equipment.

Now when we attack Iran they can use our own equipment against us. Yes, I know that the equipment was supposedly given to the Iraqis, not the Iranians. But everybody knows the the Shia majority Iraqi government in is the pocket of the Iranians.

[truthisfreedom]

44. The engines in those tanks should be turned into diesel generators. There's an endless number

of alternative uses for machineries of war. There's no reason to leave them stuff intact that they can use to wage war at all. It should all be stuff that their citizens can benefit from. Not stuff that can be seized and used against innocents (again).