Senate adopts Dorgan amendment on hundreds of thousands of vanished weapons in Iraq | KXNet.com North Dakota News
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Home |
Voices
|
Blogs
|
ND-Democratic-Party Senate adopts Dorgan amendment on hundreds of thousands of vanished weapons in IraqDisclaimer: This article is a blog post and does not represent the views
or opinions of Reiten Television, KXNet.com, its staff and associates and is wholly owned by
the user who posted this content.
Sep 28 2007 12:00AM
http://www.nddemnpl.blogspot.com/ (WASHINGTON, D.C.) - More than 110,000 U.S. supplied AK-47 rifles and 80,000 pistols have vanished in Iraq, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) wants to make sure it never happens again. Late Thursday, the U.S. Senate approved Dorgan’s amendment to require the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to set up an accountability system for weapons supplied to the Iraqi Army and other Iraqi security forces or face a cut off of further arms shipments to the government of Iraq. The amendment was added to the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Authorization bill now under consideration in the Senate. Dorgan said he offered the amendment after reading what he described as a “shocking” report by the GAO. The report concluded that DOD cannot account for hundreds of thousands of pistols, rifles and other equipment it supplied to Iraqi security forces. Few – and often no – records were kept of individuals or even units receiving the weapons. “There was no supporting documentation to show what individuals or even what Iraqi units received the weapons and equipment,” Dorgan said. “As a result, the Defense Department cannot account for 110,000 AK-47 rifles and 80,000 pistols. This level of sloppiness and this lack of accountability make it very likely American soldiers are being shot at by insurgents with weapons paid for by U.S. taxpayers.” The DOD agreed in July with the GAO’s recommendations to establish accountability procedures for weapons it sends to Iraq, but Dorgan noted “it is almost October and they have not yet done so. This is a problem that requires urgent action and months have gone by and nothing has changed.” “My amendment will either force needed action, or stop the flow of U.S. weapons to Iraq that no one is securing and tracking and which, as a result, may now be turned on U.S. soldiers.” |
Disclaimer: This article is a blog post and does not represent the views or opinions of Reiten Television, KXNet.com, its staff and associates and is wholly owned by the user who posted this content.
More Blogs |
Advertise on KXNet.com!
Reaching over 300,000 people - Every Month! KXNet.com is the #1 TV News website in the entire state of North Dakota - Contact us Today!
![]() Join the KXNews Facebook Group More Social Networking
Around Town Fan Club on Facebook | KX News Morning on Twitter | Around Town on Twitter | Donnell Preskey on Twitter
![]() |
||||||||||||||||