Iraq Says U.S. Behind in Arms Deliveries (Only Fraction of $2B Order Filled)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Boston Globe

Iraq says US behind in arms deliveries
Only a fraction of $2b order has been filled
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | 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.

Pentagon officials say that large orders take time and that the US military has large orders pending, which adds to the manufacturing backlog. But Iraqi officials have expressed frustration over the delays. "We need to make sure (our security forces) have weapons, vehicles, communications devices," Maamoon Sami Rasheed, the governor of Anbar Province, said yesterday as he visited Washington, D.C., with a group of Iraqi officials for a State Department leadership program.

He said new police and army recruits in Anbar have recently joined the United States in fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq, but they lack the necessary equipment to do their jobs. Some members of Anbar's 21,000-member police force, he said, have been relegated to using personal weapons. He added that other provinces in Iraq have similar shortages.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2007/11/03/iraq_says_us_behind_in_arms_deliveries

[rockybelt]

1. A lesson in "democracy"

Ah, the Iraqis are learning the true meaning of compassionate conservatism. You pay money to us that we want with a passion and we will conservatively, if at all, deliver what you bought.
This bunch that call themselves the administration are nothing but murderers and thieves.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Ingrates....

after all we've done for them and their country they have the NERVE to complain! :sarcasm:

[arcos]

3. Weapons that in 5 or 10 years will be used against the US... nt

[MadMaddie]

4. Bingo.....Just as the US supplied weapons to the Taliban

to fight Russia have been used against the US....and so it shall be that the weapons they are providing to Iraq will be used against the US..

[ohio2007]

5. Or, the weapons will be reported stolen a month after delivery as has been reported in the past

Maybe they should just buy back all of Saddams surplus that is awash in their country

[MadMaddie]

6. You know I am reading

Robert Ludlum's "Aquitaine Progression"

And it is kind of eerie because a large shipment of weapons never gets delivered to it's destination....the weapons end up in an entirely different country to stoke an internal war...the weapons are given to both sides....

I don't find this far fetched anymore....

[Supersedeas]

7. incompetent cronies with a Defense contractors license