There have been wide-spread reports that the Army somehow lost about 190,000 rifles and pistols in Iraq. This was apparently either the bulk of, or a significant portion of, a purchase made somewhere in the Balkans and intended for issue to the Iraqi Army and national Police.

The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

The author of the report from the Government Accountability Office says U.S. military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops. The highest previous estimate of unaccounted-for weapons was 14,000, in a report issued last year by the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

This sounds like a lot of money, but actually, it really isn’t that much if you take the long view. The purchase we’re talking about was really only a small portion of what “The United States has spent $19.2 billion trying to develop Iraqi security forces since 2003, the GAO said, including at least $2.8 billion to buy and deliver equipment.”

We’ve spent somewhere on the south side of three quarters of a trillion dollars ($750,000,000,000) so far on Mr Bu$h’s ego-war, when you consider moneys we’ve paid out or committed to paying out. This money was borrowed, and not paid for by taxes, so it doesn’t include the interest our children and grandchildren will be paying to bring this debt down to zero. Many knowledgeable observers conservatively estimate the final cost, at the end of the 30 year paydown period, will easily top $4 Trillion – you know how those interest payments add up.

The WaPo also reports

[T]he GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005[.] [emph added]

I know you will be astounded to learn that the officer in charge of this “haphazard and rushed” distribution from 2004 to 2005 was GEN David H Petraeus, who now commands all forces in Iraq and has been designated by Mr Bu$h as the semi-beatified national savior who will correct all the problems in Iraq and buff up Mr Bu$h turd until it gleams like a pair of Corcorans that have been worked up with three cans of Kiwi polish.

The Pentagon did not dispute the GAO findings, saying it has launched its own investigation and indicating it is working to improve tracking. Although controls have been tightened since 2005, the inability of the United States to track weapons with tools such as serial numbers makes it nearly impossible for the U.S. military to know whether it is battling an enemy equipped by American taxpayers.

Good Grief! Serial numbers! These pieces have numbers on them? You mean these beasts built in the Balkans? They’re so advanced there that they know about numbers?

All together now. The Bu$h malAdministration mantra:

NO ONE COULD HAVE ANTICIPATED THE WEAPONS WOULD HAVE NUMBERS ON THEM

Apparently, though, the rifles and pistols aren’t really lost.

Bookkeeping problems are to blame for the inability to account for nearly 200,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said late Tuesday.

In an interview on Fox News Radio, Gen. David H. Petraeus said he believes the weapons did reach the security forces, but that paperwork deficiencies don’t show their status.

“We believe those weapons all certainly were given to Iraqi units,” Petraeus said, according to a podcast recording on “The Alan Colmes Show.”

Meanwhile, 125,000 sets of body armor and 115,000 helmets intended for Iraqi forces could not be accounted for either, according to a Government Accountability Office report issued July 31.

The report faulted the Pentagon and the U.S. military command in Iraq for not applying the same standards in tracking supplies and weapons that it does elsewhere. The system has since been improved, the report found.

Petraeus was the commander of the “train and equip” program in Iraq during part of the time covered in the report.

A cynical man could just imagine the gallows humor laughter echoing around the newsroom of Stars and Stripes as they wrote up this story fairy tale.

“We occasionally likened it to building the world’s largest aircraft while in flight and while being shot at,” Petraeus said. “But we gradually started putting those procedures into place.”

Well, yes, that’s fine, General. Please do try and do things the Amy way, by the numbers, in triplicate, from the right, and in size order, at some point or other, OK? I mean, whenever you get the urge. I know it’s hard to remember these silly little procedures after only 34 years in the Army.

NO ONE EXPECTED THINGS TO BE DONE THE ARMY WAY