America didn't track Iraqi weapons

"The American military has not properly tracked hundreds of thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces and has failed to provide spare parts, maintenance personnel or even repair manuals for most of the weapons given to the Iraqis, a federal report released Sunday has concluded.
. . . The American military did not . . . take the elementary step of recording the serial numbers of nearly half a million weapons provided to Iraqis, the inspector general found, making it impossible to track or identify any that might be in the wrong hands.
. . . There were also significant discrepancies in the numbers of weapons purchased and those in Iraqi warehouses. While 176,866 semiautomatic pistols were purchased with American money, just 163,386 showed up in warehouses — meaning that more than 13,000 were unaccounted for. All 751 of the M1-F assault rifles sent to Iraq were missing, and nearly 100 MP-5 machine guns."

source
The New York Times. U.S. Is Said to Fail in Tracking Arms Shipped to Iraqis. October 30, 2006.

posted: wednesday, november 1, 2006, 3:48 PM ET
update: wednesday, november 1, 2006, 3:51 PM ET