278,000 weapons lost to the insurgency? That’s almost as many owned by the Provisional Wing of the NBA.
“October 30, 2006
U.S. Is Said to Fail in Tracking Arms for Iraqis
By JAMES GLANZ
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.”
Please find the New York Times article here.
“Capitol Hill Blue
Quarter-million American weapons missing in Iraq
Oct 30, 2006, 5:20:41 AM
Hundreds of thousands of military weapons sent to Iraq for use by Iraqi Security Forces are missing and presumed in the hands of insurgents who use those weapons to kill Iraqi civilians and American soldiers, a government report admits.
The U.S. military cannot account for about 278,000 weapons destined for 325,500 members of the Iraqi Security Forces.”
Please find CHB article here.