H
Harry Hope
Guest
Petraeus left the post in September 2005.
Since then, audits have cited the Iraq transition command for lack of
oversight.
An October 2006 audit by the special inspector general for Iraq
reconstruction said there was "questionable accuracy" and "incomplete
accountability" in the way MNSTC-I managed weapons.
In one case, 751 assault rifles were purchased, but there is no record
of their delivery to Iraq's ministries of defense and interior.
More recently, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said until
December 2005, MNSTC-I had no centralized set of records for the
shipping of weapons to Iraqi forces.
The command said 185,000 Russian-designed AK-47 rifles, 170,000
pistols, 215,000 sets of body armor, and 140,000 helmets had been
issued to Iraq troops by September 2005, according to the July GAO
report.
But due to incomplete record-keeping, the command couldn't be certain
if the Iraqis received 110,000 of the rifles, or 80,000 of the
pistols.
More than half of the body armor and helmets couldn't be tracked.
Military officials in Washington and Baghdad still have not settled on
which, "if any," accountability procedures apply to the
train-and-equip program, the GAO said.
.....................................................................................................
Federal investigators are also examining whether employees for
Blackwater USA, one of the largest private security firms in Iraq,
played a role in the loose arms problem by selling weapons on the
black market that ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist
organization.
Turkish officials have complained to the United States that they had
seized weapons from the PKK, a Kurdish militant group, with markings
matching those intended for Iraqi forces.
Blackwater has denied any involvement in weapons smuggling and called
the allegations "baseless."
Lawmakers who received a classified briefing from the inspector
general last week expressed concern that U.S. troops might be injured
or killed by firepower the United States purchased.
.....................................................................................................
Thomas Gimble, the Pentagon's deputy inspector general, said his
office has 90 open investigations stemming from nearly $6 billion in
contracts for supplies and equipment needed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gimble said his staff also is auditing $88 billion in wartime
expenditures to see if further investigation is warranted. Since 2003,
more than $19 billion has gone to build up Iraq's security forces.
Army Lt. Col. Levonda Joey Selph, a former assistant to Petraeus
during 2004 and 2005, is a target of one of the investigations.
Selph served as the U.S. commander of a large depot north of Baghdad
that was responsible for outfitting Iraq's military.
On Wednesday, Selph told AP a gag order prevents her from commenting.
But before hanging up, she called press reports about her "freaking
lies."
From The Associated Press, 9/28/07:
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,150759,00.html?wh=wh
Weapons Sent to Iraq Poorly Tracked
WASHINGTON -
As President Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry clashed in
late 2004 over the direction of the Iraq war, a rising Army star
joined the debate.
Then-Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, head of a new command overseeing the
training and equipping of Iraq's security forces, said headway was
being made.
Tens of thousands of rifles, pistols, body armor, vehicles, and
radios, along with millions of ammunition rounds, had been delivered
to Iraqis over a three-month period, he wrote in a commentary for The
Washington Post six weeks before the presidential election.
The weapons and countless pieces of other gear, paid for with tens of
millions of U.S. tax dollars, were indeed flowing - but as it turns
out, not always to the right places or into the right hands.
In the rush to arm Iraqi forces against a violent insurgency, U.S.
military officials did not keep good records.
About 190,000 weapons weren't fully accounted for, according to one
audit.
__________________________________________________
Kinda disconcerting, eh?
Harry
Since then, audits have cited the Iraq transition command for lack of
oversight.
An October 2006 audit by the special inspector general for Iraq
reconstruction said there was "questionable accuracy" and "incomplete
accountability" in the way MNSTC-I managed weapons.
In one case, 751 assault rifles were purchased, but there is no record
of their delivery to Iraq's ministries of defense and interior.
More recently, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said until
December 2005, MNSTC-I had no centralized set of records for the
shipping of weapons to Iraqi forces.
The command said 185,000 Russian-designed AK-47 rifles, 170,000
pistols, 215,000 sets of body armor, and 140,000 helmets had been
issued to Iraq troops by September 2005, according to the July GAO
report.
But due to incomplete record-keeping, the command couldn't be certain
if the Iraqis received 110,000 of the rifles, or 80,000 of the
pistols.
More than half of the body armor and helmets couldn't be tracked.
Military officials in Washington and Baghdad still have not settled on
which, "if any," accountability procedures apply to the
train-and-equip program, the GAO said.
.....................................................................................................
Federal investigators are also examining whether employees for
Blackwater USA, one of the largest private security firms in Iraq,
played a role in the loose arms problem by selling weapons on the
black market that ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist
organization.
Turkish officials have complained to the United States that they had
seized weapons from the PKK, a Kurdish militant group, with markings
matching those intended for Iraqi forces.
Blackwater has denied any involvement in weapons smuggling and called
the allegations "baseless."
Lawmakers who received a classified briefing from the inspector
general last week expressed concern that U.S. troops might be injured
or killed by firepower the United States purchased.
.....................................................................................................
Thomas Gimble, the Pentagon's deputy inspector general, said his
office has 90 open investigations stemming from nearly $6 billion in
contracts for supplies and equipment needed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gimble said his staff also is auditing $88 billion in wartime
expenditures to see if further investigation is warranted. Since 2003,
more than $19 billion has gone to build up Iraq's security forces.
Army Lt. Col. Levonda Joey Selph, a former assistant to Petraeus
during 2004 and 2005, is a target of one of the investigations.
Selph served as the U.S. commander of a large depot north of Baghdad
that was responsible for outfitting Iraq's military.
On Wednesday, Selph told AP a gag order prevents her from commenting.
But before hanging up, she called press reports about her "freaking
lies."
From The Associated Press, 9/28/07:
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,150759,00.html?wh=wh
Weapons Sent to Iraq Poorly Tracked
WASHINGTON -
As President Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry clashed in
late 2004 over the direction of the Iraq war, a rising Army star
joined the debate.
Then-Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, head of a new command overseeing the
training and equipping of Iraq's security forces, said headway was
being made.
Tens of thousands of rifles, pistols, body armor, vehicles, and
radios, along with millions of ammunition rounds, had been delivered
to Iraqis over a three-month period, he wrote in a commentary for The
Washington Post six weeks before the presidential election.
The weapons and countless pieces of other gear, paid for with tens of
millions of U.S. tax dollars, were indeed flowing - but as it turns
out, not always to the right places or into the right hands.
In the rush to arm Iraqi forces against a violent insurgency, U.S.
military officials did not keep good records.
About 190,000 weapons weren't fully accounted for, according to one
audit.
__________________________________________________
Kinda disconcerting, eh?
Harry
