Pentagon loses thousands of US weapons in Afghanistan

Thousands of US weapons astray in Afghanistan

Thousands of US weapons, including assault rifles and grenade launchers, may be in Taliban or Al-Qaeda hands in Afghanistan because of lax controls, congressional auditors warned on Thursday.

The Pentagon has failed to track an estimated 87,000 weapons given to Afghan security forces, one-third of the 242,000 shipped by the US government between December 2004 and June 2008, the Government Accountability Office said.

The chairman of the House subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs, John Tierney, gave an emotive summary of the problem.

"What if we had to tell families not only why we are in Afghanistan, but why their son or daughter died at the hands of an insurgent using a weapon purchased by US taxpayers?" the Democrat told the hearing.

"But that's what we risk if we were to have tens of thousands of weapons we provided washing around Afghanistan, off the books."

(I looked but didn't see any threads about this.)

Are you serious!?!?!

We "LOST" 1/3 of the weapons that our government has sent over there in the last 4 years? That is just flat out ludacris and unacceptable.

My favorite part is what Defense Dept. Spokesman Brian Whitman says:

"We take our responsibility with regard to accountability of weapons seriously. I think the record will show that our performance on this has improved over time for any number of reasons."

If this is an improvement then lord what else have we lost?!?



John Tierney said it best, how can we explain why we are even there, and then follow that up by explaining how our own soldiers may be getting attacked by our own equipment??

What do you guys think?
It's the first I've heard of it. Figured maybe it would get a little more attention?

absolutely sickening!!! part of me is wondering if we're willfully arming these peeps in an attempt to keep the conflict going. i mean honestly, how do you lose 87,000 weapons? they didn't just get up and walk away, and you would THINK that we would keep a cache of weaponry heavily guarded at all times.

reply to post by mpriebe81


I couldn't agree with you any more!!!
87,000 is an alarming number.

IMO if you notice hey, we've lost 15k-25k weapons.
Maybe we should try and do something to stop the bleeding?!
Protect our own weapons so we can "protect" ourself.

I almost want to say it's impossible to happen, unless they wanted it to.

[edit on 12-2-2009 by Allegory of Illumination]

Originally posted by Allegory of Illumination
reply to post by mpriebe81

 

I couldn't agree with you any more!!!
87,000 is an alarming number.
If it didn't happen all at once, which I assume.

But still if you notice hey, we've lost 15k-25k weapons.
Maybe we should try and do something to stop the bleeding?!
Protect our own weapons so we can "protect" ourself.

I almost want to say it's impossible to happen, unless they wanted it to.

for sure, i mean how the heck can 87k slip by us unnoticed?? something definitely stinks about this whole thing....S&F by the way

[edit on 12-2-2009 by mpriebe81]

this is outrageous i'm sure there was money placed in the right people's hands to let this happen...

whatever happened to gear accountability and why didn't the government keep a track on all weapons sent? this is disgusting knowing that when i go over there i'll get attacked by the very weapon we use against them...come on what happened to all the professionalism the government is supposed to have?

Originally posted by Allegory of Illumination

What do you guys think?
It's the first I've heard of it. Figured maybe it would get a little more attention?

I think it goes to show just how incompetent the Bush Administration really was. They were so incompetent they were a danger to America's future. Look around...the evidence of their stupidity is overwhelming. This generation of Republicans were and are simply incapable of governing successfully. It's scary too because the weaker they get the more power the Democrats get and power corrupts, quickly. What happened to these weapons should be a huge question to Americans, one that requires an answer. This isn't the first time this has happened either so it seems nobody is trying to fix this. There should be a Congressional Investigation immediately.

[edit on 12-2-2009 by hawkeye1717]

How many of these weapons are going to come through the back door (Mexico) to bite us in the A@@?

Sheesh, there are those that want to do away with semi-automatic assault-style weapons in the US. They take the automatic variety overseas
and "lose" them.

Something is afoot...

Originally posted by pyrytyes
Something is afoot...

It does smell funny.
It seems incomprehensible that 87,000 weapons could, oooops, disappear.
Now....
It is never my first inclination to assume conspiracy.
I'm a firm believer in my gut instinct, and my first guess is bs.

It is easy to see how the weapons were lost.

The GAO said that at the Afghan end, corruption and illiteracy were major impediments to keeping track of the weapons.
Security was often risible, with just a wooden door and a miniature padlock guarding an arms room in one northern Afghan police station visited by the GAO inspectors.
At the Afghan army's central weapons depot in Kabul, the team found "guards sleeping on duty and missing from their posts." A subsequent audit by the US military found 47 pistols had been stolen from the depot.

Originally posted by stevegmu
It is easy to see how the weapons were lost.

I guess that is a very simple way to get something stolen.

Not having it guarded AT ALL.
That is the idiotic part of this mess.

The Govt. couldn't even keep tabs, or an eye on 47 pistols (or 87,000 weapons)
you nit pick through the details.

Either way, it's a crime that they let this happen.
And maybe our own people with pay with that mistake by those same weapons.

Easy to see how this is not that big a deal.

Lost?
Really?
No.
I don't think so.

No one "lost" 87,000 weapons. Those weapons went exactly where they were meant to go. The question is where were they meant to go and who sent them there. You can not lost that many weapons. Those weapons are most likely in some South American country or maybe right here in the US. They are not lost. Some one knows where they are.

[edit on 2/12/2009 by fixer1967]

Originally posted by Allegory of Illumination

Originally posted by pyrytyes
Something is afoot...

It does smell funny.
It seems incomprehensible that 87,000 weapons could, oooops, disappear.
Now....
It is never my first inclination to assume conspiracy.
I'm a firm believer in my gut instinct, and my first guess is bs.

That's the idea... my first guess would be black project money. People are less likely to believe the purchase of $5000 hammers nowadays, they have to cover it up somehow.

a padlocked shed with a wooden door? HAH! The stupidity is mind-numbing isn't it? Now why in the heck did we leave all of these weapons with a bunch of Afghani guards? I mean, they're OUR frickin' weapons, maybe we should've been keeping the majority of them in our own bases?

reply to post by fixer1967



Hmm let's see if ATS does not censor me this time, as they have every single time in the past I've tried to anonymously hint about this.

Yes someone, many people know where they are. Like for instance a female soldier from the MAARNG named Durkin (first name was strange, Irish name, I don't recall). She uncovered a command she was attached to (CJTF 82, now CJTF 101 I believe) doing some shenanigans. She confided in a journalist, who told someone what was going on and the next thing you know the poor gal was gone. Her death was mentioned in the local papers but I don't think it got the national/international attention it deserved. You can uncover a lot if you look at the appearance and re-appearance of the names of certain officers attached to CJTF 82 who later took the blame for a misappropriation of funds for fleet vehicles, under a different CJTF in Bagram. That's all I am saying.

Anonymous thanks, that is very interesting, I had seen your post last week and was just discussing this yesterday with someone. Care to share any more info? I know a little about that situation myself...