I think BuckieBoy is right on target.
You can’t have the ripe, profitable chaos of a sustained low intensity conflict w/out a well-armed enemy.

Iraqi security forces were virtually nonexistent in early 2004, and in June of that year Petraeus was brought in to build them up. No central record of distributed equipment was kept for a year and a half, until December 2005, and even now the records are on a spreadsheet that requires three computer screens lined up side by side to view a single row, Christoff said.
The GAO found that the military was consistently unable to collect supporting documents to “confirm when the equipment was received, the quantities of equipment delivered, and the Iraqi units receiving the equipment.” The agency also said there were “numerous mistakes due to incorrect manual entries” in the records that were maintained.
Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing

In other words, some of the equipment went missing even before officially being given to the Iraqis, putting a dent in the troll’s assertion that “we hand over the weapons, Iraqis lose them and sell them” because it’s a “different culture”.

I bet the insurgents -who also happen to be Iraqis- are much more careful with their weapons.

Don’t forget the “tewowists”.

There are lots of them under the bed and hiding in the closet too.

Comment by Gregor Samsa — December 7, 2007 @ 12:48 am

Yeah, you’re right. Frank’s abacus must have only one bead.

T

But, but, but I thought there were “leftists” under the bed.

-GSD

Comment by GSD — December 6, 2007 @ 7:09 pm

Actually, it’s a variation called “Tex-ass SOLD ‘Em”…

They seem to be under the impression that the missing weapons are under someone’s bed, or in someone’s closet, gathering dust, misplaced and forgotten.

It never crosses their teeny mind that these arms might, just might, end up in the hands of the insurgents.

I think you must’ve lost him at “zero balance”.

That’s already highly complex mathematics for Frank.

Bravo! Even the unfortunate souls who were home “schooled” should get that one.

Not being able to account for Iraqi incompetence is not our fault. We take care of our own shipments, but it’s too much to ask that we keep track of the Iraqi weapons.

Comment by Frank M — December 6, 2007 @ 8:53 pm

Uhhh, we’re not talking about Iraqi incompetence here. We’re talking about USA incompetence, funded by the the good ole US of A taxpayers. The US cannot account for (in layman’s terms: uhhh, where did they go) 12,712 out of 13,508 guns. In other words, to make it simple for you, we can only track where 796 weapons went. What happended to the balance?

Now, let’s make this simple for you. You start with a zero balance in your checking account. You make a $13,508 deposit (a credit) and have $796 in expenses (debits) and the expenses clear with no problem. With me so far? Take the debits from the credits and your balance should be $12,712 right? Right. You check your balance the next day (via telephone or on-line) and your bank says you have a $0.00 balance. Aren’t you the least bit curious as to what happened to your $12,712? Or are you willing to write it off to the bank’s bad accounting practices and call it a day?

Oy that would be the country of Enron?

Comment by Frank M — December 6, 2007 @ 7:09 pm

We could solve the problem, by pulling US troops out of Iraq, and letting them fend for themselves. You know the old self reliance saw. Funny thing is, when the Brits left Basra, violence dropped 90%.