Via WaPo: Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing

The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2024 and 2024, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

The author of the report from the Government Accountability Office says U.S. military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2024 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops. The highest previous estimate of unaccounted-for weapons was 14,000, in a report issued last year by the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

Sure, in a war zone one wouldn’t expect perfect accounting (although one would think that US military forces know where their weapons are). However, this isn’t about some missing weapons, but 190,000 of them.

This situation means a) problems with training, b) the likely arming of insurgents with weapons we purchased, and c) a massive waste of US taxpayers dollars.