Iraq:The US has lost track of about 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces since the 2003 invasion, some of which will have ended up in the hands of insurgents, according to an official report published in Washington. Among the missing items are AK-47 rifles, pistols, body armour and helmets.
The disclosure adds to the picture of the chaotic and clumsy administration of Iraq which has emerged over the last four years.The report, by the government accountability office, which sent its report to Congress last week, found a 30 per cent gap between the number of weapons issued to Iraqi forces and records held by US forces in Iraq. No one in the Bush administration knows where the weapons are now.
The 20-page report says that the Pentagon and the multinational force in Iraq responsible for training "cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armour and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces as of September 22nd, 2005". During that period the US was desperate to get the Iraqi security forces up and running and was arming them as fast as it could.
The failure of the US to account for so many weapons is an embarrassment for the Bush administration after months in which it has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying weapons and explosives to the insurgents.
Since June 2006 the multinational force has paid more attention to record-keeping. But the government accounting office's review of the property books in January "found continuing problems with missing and incomplete records". Last year the estimate of missing weapons was put at a mere 14,000 by another congressional investigative body.
A Pentagon spokesman said that the multinational force in Iraq was preparing a response to the report. The Pentagon has accepted its recommendations for improved accountability procedures.
Over the past four years the US has provided about $19.2bn (€14bn) to develop Iraqi security forces. The Pentagon has asked for a further $2bn (€1.46bn) to help equip and train them. In previous conflicts, the US state department took responsibility for training and distribution of weapons. But the Pentagon insisted on taking responsibility for arming the Iraqi forces.
In Baghdad yesterday Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's unity government plunged deeper into crisis when four secularist ministers withdrew from cabinet meetings less than a week after the main Sunni Arab bloc had quit. A total of 17 ministers, almost half of Mr Maliki's cabinet, have now quit or are boycotting meetings at a time when he is under pressure from US officials to make demonstrable progress in reconciling Iraq's warring sects. The cabinet boycott means Mr Maliki sets off today for visits to Turkey and Iran amid signs that he is losing control of his government.
Meanwhile, the US and Iran yesterday held the first meeting of a sub-committee to discuss ways to co-operate in ending violence. This follows two meetings between the ambassadors of the two countries, the first dialogue since the Iranian revolution in 1979. The discussions were described as frank.
- (Guardian Service; additional reporting: Reuters)