Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Iraq gun control (Updated)

Still more evidence today of poor management of U.S. tax dollars designed to help rebuild Iraq. And for the first time, the possibility that this may be endangering our own troops. The U.S. has not properly tracked half a million weapons bought for Iraqi security forces, and a new report reveals that 14,000 weapons are now considered missing.

That's right, according to government watchdogs, more than 13,000 Glock semi-automatic pistols, 751 assault weapons and almost 100 machine guns cannot be accounted for in Iraq, raising the possibility that they may have fallen into the hands of insurgents. (Emphasis mine)

30 October, 2006
Since March 2003, coalition forces have seized thousands of unauthorized small arms through security patrols and urban search operations.
Marines and civilians with Ammunition Platoon, Supply Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 15, 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward), are redeploying these weapon systems into the Iraqi Army, turning insurgent resources into coalition assets.
5 October, 2006
A serial number is such a terrible thing to waste. Having lost 14,000 weapons, US forces are now scavenging arms for the Iraqi army. They might even eventually find some of their lost firearms... except they won't be sure because they didn't record the serial numbers.
Update: From comments: Mike suggests: "... sounds like they need some sort of database to track these things. What would that be called? A 'Gun Registry' perhaps."
Since the US failed to disarm the general Iraqi population after "occupying" that country, it would have made a certain amount of sense to record and register everything that went "bang". Despite what you hear, this actually does work.

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