August 06, 2007
GAO: U.S. Arms Missing In Iraq
When U.S. and Iranian officials met today to discuss security issues in Iraq, one of the topics of discussion may have been the frequent U.S. assertions that Tehran is helping to arm and train the insurgents wreaking havoc in the war-torn nation. But a new U.S. government report has raised concerns that American weapons, too, may be falling into the wrong hands in Iraq.
The Government Accountability Office recently reported that 30 percent of weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles and pistols, that the Pentagon allocated to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005 are now unaccounted for. The approximately 190,000 weapons in question were distributed when the current top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, was overseeing Iraqi security training.
According to the Washington Post, the Pentagon has not disputed the report, which was released to Congress on July 31. The Defense Department is also conducting its own investigation into the matter and taking steps to improve the distribution and tracking of U.S. arms in Iraq, the Post reports.
The full report is available as a PDF on the GAO Web site. And the Post has more details on this story in an online Q&A with reporter Glenn Kessler.
