Daily archives: August 7th, 2007

Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing

August 7, 2007
Iraq
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From the Washington Post:

The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, 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 2004 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.

Very disturbing.

Iraqi political crisis grows – And We’re No Boy Scouts

August 7, 2007
GeneralRantRepublicans
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I remember a few things from the Boy Scouts.  Leave a place better than you found it.

Yes, I remember.

And we’re so off in Iraq.  So much damage.  So much lost.  So much al Qaeda.  And, funny thing is, al Qaeda was not there in anywhere near the numbers before we arrived.

And now, their wonderful government is collapsing in upon itself:

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s political crisis worsened Monday as five more ministers announced a boycott of Cabinet meetings — leaving the embattled prime minister’s unity government with no members affiliated with Sunni political factions.

<snip>

The new cracks in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki‘s government appeared even as U.S. military officials sounded cautious notes of progress on security, citing strides against insurgents linked to al-Qaida in Iraq but also new threats from Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

From the Associated Press.

Does anyone in Washington have a clue as to how we’re going to get out of Iraq, after leaving it worse than we found it?