Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing

From the Washington Post courtesy of AlterNet:

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.

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.

Click here for the rest.

The article goes on to observe that anti-occupation insurgents are, in all probability, in possession of these missing weapons, even while the Bush administration continues to assert that Iran and Syria are doing the lion's share of arms supplying. Typical, very typical. Indeed, this kind of utter incompetence - fucking up horribly and blaming somebody else for it - is by now the modus operandi of the Bush administration, from New York to Baghdad to New Orleans, and will probably be the most memorable aspect for Americans of this century's first decade when it's all over and done with.

It is very interesting to note that most of these weapons were lost while under the command of General Petraeus, which kind of sounds like "betray-us" if you forget to aspirate the initial consonant sound, who is now busy failing to end the violence and insurgency over there. Is his rise to supreme command in Iraq the military version of "Heckuva Job" Brownie's reign over FEMA? Probably not: Petraeus is more likely most adept at licking his superiors' buttholes, which is no doubt why he is now the big cheese instead of other generals who prefer truth-telling over anilingus.

You know, we've lost track of billions of dollars over there, too. Wads and wads of actual cash just fucking gone, literally gone.

Fucking idiots.

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