$19 Billion misplaced

spike

spike

New Member
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon cannot fully account for $19.2 billion worth of equipment provided to Iraqi security forces, government auditors said Tuesday.

The finding by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, comes a few days after the Pentagon acknowledged that the U.S. and its allies have delivered a little more than a third of the equipment in the pipeline for the Iraqi Army and less than half of what is destined for the Iraqi police.

Baghdad officials have long complained that the lack of equipment has made it difficult to train and equip Iraqi forces.

Since the program's beginning, the GAO found, consistent records confirming the date of issue, what type of equipment was received, and by what Iraqi unit were not kept. Before December 2005, no centralized records were kept.

While the situation started improving in 2006, problems still exist, the GAO said.

"GAO's review of the January 2007 property books found continuing problems with missing and incomplete records," the report said.

The GAO found a discrepancy of at least 190,000 weapons between the data reported by the unit charged with implementing the program to train and equip Iraqi forces and the property books where such details are supposed to be kept.

The GAO says the Defense Department and components of the Multinational Force-Iraq were responsible.

In addition to the $19.2 billion used, the Defense Department recently requested another $2 billion for the program.

GAO recommended that accountability procedures be put in place, and that adequate staff and technology be made available for the program.

In a letter to the GAO, Mark Kimmitt, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said he agrees with the recommendations.

"In view of the matters raised in the GAO report, DOD is reviewing policies and procedures to ensure U.S. funded equipment reaches the intended Iraqi Security Forces under the program," Kimmitt said.
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/31/iraq.equipment.ap/
 
Gato_Solo

Gato_Solo

Out-freaking-standing OTC member
unclehobart

unclehobart

New Member
That being said... 190,000 possible missing guns does sound a little 'holy shit' to me. I wonder if its reality or a paperwork snafu... or both.

I wonder if they can make field grade weapons with composites that decay over time. It would be neat to see a rifle that could fire 10,000 rounds and then crumble the firing pin, or stocks that dissolve after 2 years, or a metal that will rust like hell unless treated with a special military controlled lube... or even bullets with hard paper for brass that can't be reused. I know they've made landmines that self detonate or disarm after a few years automatically. I just wonder if it can be applied to other equipment without endangering soldiers or making the cost shoot up 100x.
 
spike

spike

New Member
Gato_Solo said:
Guess what? We wasted more on pork barrel politics than we have in Iraq
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I checked the last 3 years in your link, all were under $30 billion. Even if they were all 100% waste it hardly compares to the money spent on Iraq.


In case you didn't notice, Iraq is a war zone. Shit gets lost, blown up, scattered, and, yes, stolen, all the time.
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Well crap, in that case lets not worry about the $19 billion, why bother even looking for it? :laugh:


Of course, that matters because its happening someplace you don't like, so your incessant whining about the corruption seems more important...:rolleyes:
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Of course $19 billion isn't important and 190,000 missing guns is hardly worth mentioning. I just posted news story, the only one whining here is you. :rolleyes:
 
Gato_Solo

Gato_Solo

Out-freaking-standing OTC member
unclehobart said:
That being said... 190,000 possible missing guns does sound a little 'holy shit' to me. I wonder if its reality or a paperwork snafu... or both.

I wonder if they can make field grade weapons with composites that decay over time. It would be neat to see a rifle that could fire 10,000 rounds and then crumble the firing pin, or stocks that dissolve after 2 years, or a metal that will rust like hell unless treated with a special military controlled lube... or even bullets with hard paper for brass that can't be reused. I know they've made landmines that self detonate or disarm after a few years automatically. I just wonder if it can be applied to other equipment without endangering soldiers or making the cost shoot up 100x.
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I'm pretty sure its an accounting snafu. We ship 600 tons to Iraq per day out of Charleston AFB, and I see slides of up to 20 tons lost somewhere in the logistics system on any given day. Most of it is called 'can't locate', but is usually located in less than a week. They're called "over and short" shipments. Human error in grabbing the wrong piece because the numbers are close, or moving the wrong pallet because it was in the wrong location.
 
Winky

Winky

Well-Known Member
Gato if you could misplace a pallet of AT-4's

I could use them for my stockpile, M'Kay




AT4.jpg
 
Gato_Solo

Gato_Solo

Out-freaking-standing OTC member
Winky said:
Gato if you could misplace a pallet of AT-4's

I could use them for my stockpile, M'Kay
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Tsk, tsk. Guess you missed the part about 'Overshipment' and 'Short shipment'. The items are not misplaced. They get to where they need to go, but they get there sooner, or later, than intended. If all you look at are the FR7 reports (missing cargo), you'll never see the 'Over and Short Shipment' reports. I'll describe it this way...We send a pallet of MRE's to Balad, and place some other stuff on top of it as 'loose cargo' (non-palletized or not part of the bulk shipment) going to Baghdad, where the plane stops first. The folks in Baghdad don't look on top of the pallet, so they don't see the loose shipment. They file a 'short shipment' report, and send a copy of that report to the shipper electronically. Meanwhile...the folks in Balad get the extra stuff. They file an 'overshipment' report, and send copies to all stations that plane landed at...and the original shipper. Depending upon what the 'loose cargo' was, the value of the 'misplaced' item is added to the total. Happens all too often. Thats where part of the $19 billion comes from. All you need after that is some yahoo wanting to point out 'waste' to send the story to the states. Its basically making a mountain out of a mole-hill.
 
catocom

catocom

Well-Known Member
man, I'd just like to have my old POS British 303 back at this point.:mope:

guess I'll just sit around and wait on Eastman's to come the 18-19.
 
spike

spike

New Member
Gato_Solo said:
Thats where part of the $19 billion comes from. All you need after that is some yahoo wanting to point out 'waste' to send the story to the states. Its basically making a mountain out of a mole-hill.
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A $19 billion mole-hill :laugh:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nearly 200,000 U.S.-supplied rifles and pistols meant for Iraqi security forces are unaccounted for in Iraq, according to a report to Congress.


U.S. soldiers patrol the Iraqi village of Sweb, south of Baquba, on Wednesday.

Loose record-keeping caused the Pentagon and the U.S. command in Iraq to lose track of about 110,000 AK-47 rifles and 80,000 pistols provided to the new Iraqi national police and army, the Government Accountability Office told Congress.

The investigative arm of Congress, the GAO also found that 250,000 pieces of body armor and helmets can't be accounted for.

The report also says a review of the 2007 property books shows continuing problems with missing and incomplete records.

The report, issued July 31, follows an October accounting by the Defense Department's special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, which put the number of weapons missing at close to 500,000.

Auditors were unable to determine whether the weapons -- which included heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers -- were stolen, being used by insurgents or still in the hands of Iraqi units.

A Pentagon official in Baghdad, who asked not to be identified, said some of the weapons went back to Iraqi forces and some were destroyed. But he conceded some of them may be missing.

Asked whether they ended up in the hands of insurgents, he said there was no hard data, but "anything is possible."
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http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/06/iraq.weapons/
 
Winky

Winky

Well-Known Member
aw shucks there goes my anti-armor weapons

oh well my next request was gonna be for a MK-19


MK19-02.jpg
 
Gato_Solo

Gato_Solo

Out-freaking-standing OTC member
2minkey said:
gee gato that really is a lot of inventory to misplace.
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Not misplace. Misship. It gets to the theater, and to the troops who need it. Its just the sheer volume of 600 tons per day being shipped, and the 'human' factor. If you look at it as being a 3.3% 'fudge factor', we're not doing too badly.


PENTAGON'S MISSING HARDWARE
AK-47 rifles: 110,000
Pistols: 80,000
Body armour pieces: 135,000
Helmets: 115,000
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Guess we found some already...
 
2minkey

2minkey

bootlicker
okay seems like a lot to misship.

you guys send ASNs to the insurgents to let 'em know it was coming?
 
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