What's the deal?
Are we arming them or not?
Are the Iraqis using them against us?
"The general said he decided to get the weapons out fast, in one case landing in Najaf in Marine helicopters and dumping the weapons out the back hatch to waiting Iraqis."
Where are these weapons going?
Whadda ya' mean they haven't gotten them?
Ah, the profits of war!
"Iraq says US behind in arms deliveries; Only a fraction of $2b order has been filled"
By Farah Stockman/Boston Globe November 3, 2007
WASHINGTON - More than a year after the government of Iraq paid more than $2 billion to the US government to purchase weapons and equipment for their military and police force, most of the equipment has yet to be delivered, slowing the ability of Iraqi units to take greater responsibility for their country's security, according to Iraqi officials.
In October 2006, Iraq obtained congressional approval to purchase 50,750 M16 rifles and 24 King Air reconnaissance aircraft, among other items. But so far, just 7,000 of the rifles and none of the aircraft have been delivered, according to a US Department of Defense spokesman. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates has said that the US government delivered about $600 million worth of military equipment to the Iraqis, and that between $2 billion and $3 billion in supplies are still on order.
Our one and only export here in AmeriKa.
Pentagon officials say that large orders take time and that the US military has large orders pending, which adds to the manufacturing backlog.... In July, Iraq's ambassador to the United States, Samir Sumaida'ie, complained bitterly about the delays, saying, "Americans are fully protected with the latest equipment and we are just cannon fodder."
Senior US military commanders in Iraq and several key senators have faulted bureaucratic delays in the US government's Foreign Military Sales program, under which the US military serves as a middleman between foreign governments and the US companies that are contracted to produce the weapons. Gates has said that the program was not designed for emergency situations like the war in Iraq.
Emergency situation?
This was a war of our time and choosing, and five years ago, asshole told us the planning was well-done, etc?
WTF!?? Gates, you are a fucking liar!
It has taken an average of 250 days to deliver an item after receiving an Iraqi request, according to the letter, but military officials are trying to cut that time to 125 days.
A report issued in September by the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, headed by retired General James L. Jones, said that the Iraqi security forces "suffer persistent shortfalls in vital equipment" and are killed at three times the rate of Coalition forces because they lack the armor and weaponry to fight against heavily armed terrorist groups.
How do the terrorists get so heavily armed?
Asymmetrical Warfare Group
Operation Gladio
Operation Northwoods
Salvador Option
Special Police Commandos
Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group
Prop 201 tutorial
FRU
And did I mention the Pentagon's press offices in Lincoln, the Pentagon and Langley?
In the first years after the 2003 US-led invasion, the US government gave weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and body armor to Iraq's fledgling forces. But some in Congress say those transfers took place too quickly and that the US and Iraqi governments did such a poor job of keeping track of the items that many have disappeared.
Starting in 2005, Iraq's government became eligible to purchase its own weaponry through the Foreign Military Sales program, and last year submitted its first major orders. Pentagon reports say that Iraq committed $1.72 billion in 2006 and $1.6 billion in 2007 to purchasing US weapons systems and equipment through the program.
That's another war-profiteering by-product of the invasion, 'ey?
BILLIONS upon BILLIONS in weapons sales!
The weapons purchases are a key step toward Iraqi self-sufficiency. US officials tout that Iraq is now spending more than twice as much as the United States to equip the Iraqi military and police.
US officials acknowledge that the purchasing process is laborious, requiring that Congress be notified and given a 30-day waiting period to object to major military sales. Then a complex bidding process begins. Finally, after contracts are issued, the goods must be manufactured and delivered to the US government, which ships them to Iraq."
There's a bidding process?
