Missing Weapons in Iraq
February 19th, 2007
According to reports written by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, one of the largest suppliers of arms to the black market in Baghdad isn’t Iran, Syria, or Saudi Arabia: it’s the United States. The SIGIR details some of the thousands of weapons that have been “misplaced” between arrival in Iraq and their distribution to Iraqi security forces. A sampling, from Report 06-033:
518 MP-5 machine guns purchased; 419 distributed. 99 missing (19%)
7% of all 9mm pistols missing; nearly 13,200 guns, the bulk of missing weapons.
751 M1-F assault rifles purchased; Zero delivered. All missing.
Few people will argue that the war in Iraq has been managed particularly well. The tragedy here is that our own government’s continued incompetence contributes directly to putting our soldiers in harm’s way by literally giving weapons to our enemies. Good luck out there, and keep your head down.
Link to Special Inspector Reports. Data from page 14, Report 06-033.
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February 19th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Any idea of what the typical missing percentage is during wars? I’d imagine, knowing the military, that they’re not particularly good at keeping track of large shipments of any kind.
February 19th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
No clue, though I’m not sure such data would be that useful given the nature of the Iraq War. Before Vietnam, when America fought huge national armies instead of clandestine insurgencies, losing a few cases of rifles meant little to an enemy capable of producing its own weapons. But since the Iraqi forces can only procure guns from an outside source, 751 machine guns are like manna from heaven.
February 20th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
That’s very true.
Desite the gravity of the situation, I wonder sometimes if the Brits aren’t chuckling at us thinking “You damn Yanks! About time your guerrilla tactics* came back to bite you in the bottom!”
February 20th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Dave, you’re quite right. You might recall when Mel Gibson portrayed a red-blooded American guerrilla in The Patriot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN22gTTp0Yg
ps. I don’t know what’s more terrifying, Mel Gibson, or his fan art.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Nah, clearly the most terrifying thing involving Mel Gibson is Mad Max. I loved Road Warrior though.