Broken Supply Channel Sent Weapons for Iraq Astray

Source: NY Times

Broken Supply Channel Sent Weapons for Iraq Astray

By ERIC SCHMITT and GINGER THOMPSON

This article was reported by Eric Schmitt, Ginger Thompson, Margot Williams and James Glanz, and was written by Mr. Schmitt and Ms. Thompson.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 — As the insurgency in Iraq escalated in the spring of 2004, American officials entrusted an Iraqi businessman with issuing weapons to Iraqi police cadets training to help quell the violence.

By all accounts, the businessman, Kassim al-Saffar, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, did well at distributing the Pentagon-supplied weapons from the Baghdad Police Academy armory he managed for a military contractor. But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his own private arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some American officials and executives, selling AK-47 assault rifles, Glock pistols and heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand — Iraqi militias, South African security guards and even American contractors.

“This was the craziest thing in the world,” said John Tisdale, a retired Air Force master sergeant who managed an adjacent warehouse. “They were taking weapons away by the truckload.”

Activities at that armory and other warehouses help explain how the American military lost track of some 190,000 pistols and automatic rifles supplied by the United States to Iraq’s security forces in 2004 and 2005, as auditors discovered in the past year.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/world/middleeast/11weapons.html?ex=1352437200&en=78782a3767d7f886&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Clusterf*ck Bush strikes again.

Or maybe not.

Yes, perfect formula for extended chaos and entended contracts - a well-oiled perpetual demand machine.

but what if this is some new version of Iran/Contra
1) Knock over Saddam, not a difficult thing in itself.
2) Facilitate chaos in Iraq.
3) Funnel money/materiel into Iraq, supposedly to deal with said chaos. Pottery Barn rules.
4) Good chunk of money/materiel goes "missing." And not ALL of the money goes it into the bank accounts of Mr/Ms War Profiteer with which to buy fun stuff.
5) Rest of money/materiel diverted to...Blackwater, dirty ops, etc to create more "chaos" at home and elsewhere.

how much of the 'insurgency' has been fostered by Blackwater. If I'm not mistaken the 4 Blackwater mercenaries who were killed in Faluja were there to call out, the fighting men in town, with insults about their manhood and mothers. They just got more than they bargained for. Hope their families are able to avenge their horrifying deaths with law suits. Yep, can't have much of a war without a strong, well armed, insurgency. All that Al Qaeda in Iraq bull shit. All of that Iran is furnishing the arms, crap. Notice how the tone of that particular, Al Qaeda in Iraq, rhetoric has died down. Guess they figured if the average American layman can see through the lies, the whole world can. How many more hundred billion dollars does mr bush want now, to waste on guns for all, in Iraq? God bless our fighting men and women, put in harms way from the shear mismanagement of this, inane, war, for oil company, profits.

Can't place it. Was he before Congress at some point?

-Hoot

A mery Fitmats this year.

I'm not surprised either, what we have is nothing but an ugly mob that has taken over our foreign policy, and than some.