14,000 US weapons go missing in Iraq

[jay gw]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly one of every 25 weapons the U.S. military bought for Iraqi security forces is missing and many others cannot be repaired because parts or technical manuals are lacking, a government audit said Sunday.

The Defense Department cannot account for 14,030 weapons — almost 4% 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 semiautomatic pistols, assault rifles, machine guns and other 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%.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-29-missing-weapons_x.htm?csp=34

Now we know where insurgents got all those guns. I didn't realize registering weapons was such a complicated task.

See the thread about my suspicions the US is trying to create terrorists, not eliminate them.

 

[RyanRoberts]

See the thread about my suspicions the US is trying to create terrorists, not eliminate them.

That's the current conspiracy theory among some Islamist groups too. The US is creating terrorists so that it can continue to stay in Iraq, sucking up all that sweet, sweet oil and bathing in muslim blood.

Congratulations for singing from the same hymn sheet as MPAC.

 

[andyandy]

See the thread about my suspicions the US is trying to create terrorists, not eliminate them.

right.....

 

[Kopji]

Only 4% unaccountable actually sounds pretty low to me, but this might be easy to figure out. What percent of attacks on are being implemented with US weapons? Are the RPG's US made? Bullets killing US & Iraqis coming from stolen US weapons?

The idea that we are trying to create terrorists seems pretty CT-ish. We do that why? To justify building bases near the oil? To protect the oil from the terrorists we are busily creating? Pretty twisty logic there.

 

[ARubberChickenWithAPulley]

Now we know where insurgents got all those guns. I didn't realize registering weapons was such a complicated task.

See the thread about my suspicions the US is trying to create terrorists, not eliminate them.

Yes we do know where the insurgents got their guns: almost every home in Iraq has an AK-47 legally. Plus, after the fall of Saddam, there were thousands of weapons and explosives in ammunition depots and weapons caches that the U.S. could not destroy right away which were then raided by feydayeen/insurgents.

Aside from the fact that it makes absolutely no sense for the U.S. to be providing weapons to the very people who are shooting at U.S. forces, there is no evidence that insurgents are using U.S.-supplied weaponry.

Pretty tenuous attempt at a connection.

 

[Ziggurat]

Now we know where insurgents got all those guns.

Uh, no, we don't know that. First off, there were plenty of guns in Iraq to start with. Second, the insurgency got their hand on a lot of the existing guns well before we started to arm the Iraqi security forces. And third, missing guns can go to a lot of places besides the insurgency. In fact, that's probably NOT where most of them went. I'd guess most of them went to Shia militias, not to the Sunni insurgents. That's still a problem, to be sure, but it's not the same problem as you suggest.

 

[geni]

Only 4% unaccountable actually sounds pretty low to me, but this might be easy to figure out. What percent of attacks on are being implemented with US weapons? Are the RPG's US made? Bullets killing US & Iraqis coming from stolen US weapons?

Sadam had a lisence to make RPG-7s. I somewhat doubt they are in short supply in that area.

 

[The Fool]

This is a warzone and these are just personal weapons. Wake me up if a tank or a jet or something can't be accounted for. I remember an army stores guy questioning me at length about a missing small plastic oil bottle from a rifle cleaning kit...I told him enemy agents tortured me until I agreed to hand it over.

 

[Mephisto]

We know where they are, they're north, south, east and west of Tikrit. Or maybe they're with the TONS of ordnance that went missing shortly after the invasion.

Ordnance Officer Confirms About 250 Tons of Munitions Removed From Iraqi Site

By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2004 -- A U.S. Army ordnance company removed roughly 250 tons of munitions from Iraq's Al Qaqaa weapons depot in mid-April 2003, that unit's commander said in the Pentagon today.

But officials said it is not known if any of the material removed then is part of the roughly 380 tons of high explosives claimed to be missing from the site.

In recent days, International Atomic Energy Agency officials have said about 380 tons of high-melting explosive, known as HMX, and rapid-detonating explosive, RDX, are missing from the site in Iraq.

The agency had tagged the explosives at the site and departed before hostilities started. On May 27, 2003, experts with the 75th Exploitation Task Force confirmed the IAEA-sealed explosives were missing.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2004/n10292004_2004102904.html

 

[Bikewer]

I too thought that this was not a particularly large figure considering the sheer amount of weaponry in the country. I wonder how many of the cash-strapped Iraqi trainees simply took their AK or whatever out on a corner and sold it?

It certainly seems that the insurgents and militias have no problem getting all the high explosives they want.