NY Times Editorial: The Untracked Guns of Iraq

About the last thing the United States ought to be doing in Iraq is funneling weapons into black-market weapons bazaars, as sectarian militias arm themselves for civil war. Yet that is just what Washington may have been doing for the past several years, thanks to an inexplicable decision that standard Pentagon regulations for registering weapons transfers did not apply to the Iraq war.

Of more than 500,000 weapons turned over to the Iraqi Ministries of Defense and Interior since the American invasion — including rocket-propelled grenade launchers, assault rifles, machine guns and sniper rifles — the serial numbers of only 12,128 were properly recorded. Some 370,000 of these weapons, some of which are undoubtedly being used to kill American troops, were paid for by United States taxpayers, under the Orwellian-titled Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund.

This chilling information comes to us from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which has distinguished itself as the most vigilant agency monitoring the money spent on the Iraq conflict. The agency, led by a Republican lawyer who once worked in the Bush White House, has previously reported on the contracting lapses and failures of supervision that allowed billions of taxpayer dollars to be wasted instead of being used to rebuild Iraq.

The latest special inspector general’s report came in response to a request from Senator John Warner, another conscientious Republican. As chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Warner wanted to be sure that the Iraqi security ministries had the skills and resources necessary to make good use of the huge quantities of arms that Washington has been turning over to them.

It turns out that the Pentagon not only failed to register the weapons, but also failed to provide the spare parts, repair manuals and maintenance technicians needed to keep them in working order. The agency found that Iraqi security forces are still heavily dependent on Washington’s support for the most basic military functions. And with America planning to scale back much of that support over the next year, it is far from clear whether Baghdad is preparing to pick up the slack.

Separately, the inspector general’s office also found insecurity so rampant in six Iraqi provinces — five of them in the predominantly Shiite south — that America’s joint military and civil reconstruction teams could not operate there effectively.

These findings go a long way toward explaining why Iraq appears to be ever more violent, with no clear plans yet coming from Baghdad or Washington that seem likely to restore a semblance of order.