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Every wondered why Iraq is such a safe and prosperous place, when all other occupations in history have resulted in revolt, chaos, and bloodbaths?
Well, here's the secret: free-markets combined with universal gun ownership.
This liberal-bias article from the Jew York Times misses the point entirely, claiming that selling off weapons to everyone in Iraq was some sort of "mistake" caused by "incompetance" or "corruption". It's not! It's the secret of Iraq's success! The supply system is not broken, and these guns are not "astray"! They are being distributed by the infallable hand of the free market, helping law abiding citizens defend themselves!
Broken supply channel sent arms for Iraq astray
U.S.-supplied weapons for Iraqi police often sold off to militias and others in Iraq.
By Eric Schmitt, Ginger Thompson, Margot Williams and James Glanz
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Sunday, November 11, 2007
WASHINGTON — As the insurgency in Iraq escalated in the spring of 2004, U.S. officials entrusted an Iraqi businessman with issuing weapons to Iraqi police cadets training to help quell the violence.
By all accounts, the businessman, Kassim al-Saffar, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, did well at distributing the Pentagon-supplied weapons from the Baghdad Police Academy armory he managed for a military contractor.
But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his own private arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some U.S. officials and executives, selling AK-47s, Glock pistols and heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand: Iraqi militias, South African security guards and even American contractors.
"This was the craziest thing in the world," said John Tisdale, a retired Air Force master sergeant who managed an adjacent warehouse. "They were taking weapons away by the truckload."
Activities at that armory and other warehouses help explain how the U.S. military lost track of 190,000 pistols and rifles supplied by the United States to Iraq's security forces in 2004 and 2005, as auditors noted in the past year...
Although the Pentagon has yet to offer its own account of how the weapons channel broke down, it is clear from interviews with two dozen military and civilian investigators, contracting officers, warehouse managers and others that military expediency sometimes ran amok, the lines between legal and illegal were blurred, and billions of dollars in arms were handed over without significant oversight.
In the armory that Saffar presided over, for example, his dealings were murky. Tisdale, who recalled seeing a briefcase stuffed with $20 bills under Saffar's desk, said he thought Saffar enriched himself selling the U.S.-supplied arms along with guns he acquired from the streets. Tisdale was supposed to sign off on any transactions by Saffar, but he said many shipments left the armory without his approval or the required records.
Ted Nordgaarden, an Alaska state trooper who worked as the police academy's supply chief, said that most of the weapons he saw leaving the armory did have a military escort.
Saffar denies any wrongdoing. Nearly a half-dozen U.S. and Iraqi workers say his gun business was an open secret at the armory...
The investigations into missing arms are among the most serious in the widening federal inquiries into billions of dollars in military contracts for the purchase and delivery of weapons, supplies and other materiel to Iraqi and U.S. forces.
Already there is evidence that some U.S.-supplied weapons fell into the hands of Kurdish guerrillas responsible for attacks against Turkey, an important U.S. ally. Some investigators said that because military suppliers to the war zone weren't required to record serial numbers, it was unlikely that the authorities would ever be able to tell where the weapons went.
Many of those weapons were issued when Gen. David Petraeus, now the top U.S. commander in Iraq, was responsible for training and equipping Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005...
Well, here's the secret: free-markets combined with universal gun ownership.
This liberal-bias article from the Jew York Times misses the point entirely, claiming that selling off weapons to everyone in Iraq was some sort of "mistake" caused by "incompetance" or "corruption". It's not! It's the secret of Iraq's success! The supply system is not broken, and these guns are not "astray"! They are being distributed by the infallable hand of the free market, helping law abiding citizens defend themselves!
Broken supply channel sent arms for Iraq astray
U.S.-supplied weapons for Iraqi police often sold off to militias and others in Iraq.
By Eric Schmitt, Ginger Thompson, Margot Williams and James Glanz
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Sunday, November 11, 2007
WASHINGTON — As the insurgency in Iraq escalated in the spring of 2004, U.S. officials entrusted an Iraqi businessman with issuing weapons to Iraqi police cadets training to help quell the violence.
By all accounts, the businessman, Kassim al-Saffar, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, did well at distributing the Pentagon-supplied weapons from the Baghdad Police Academy armory he managed for a military contractor.
But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his own private arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some U.S. officials and executives, selling AK-47s, Glock pistols and heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand: Iraqi militias, South African security guards and even American contractors.
"This was the craziest thing in the world," said John Tisdale, a retired Air Force master sergeant who managed an adjacent warehouse. "They were taking weapons away by the truckload."
Activities at that armory and other warehouses help explain how the U.S. military lost track of 190,000 pistols and rifles supplied by the United States to Iraq's security forces in 2004 and 2005, as auditors noted in the past year...
Although the Pentagon has yet to offer its own account of how the weapons channel broke down, it is clear from interviews with two dozen military and civilian investigators, contracting officers, warehouse managers and others that military expediency sometimes ran amok, the lines between legal and illegal were blurred, and billions of dollars in arms were handed over without significant oversight.
In the armory that Saffar presided over, for example, his dealings were murky. Tisdale, who recalled seeing a briefcase stuffed with $20 bills under Saffar's desk, said he thought Saffar enriched himself selling the U.S.-supplied arms along with guns he acquired from the streets. Tisdale was supposed to sign off on any transactions by Saffar, but he said many shipments left the armory without his approval or the required records.
Ted Nordgaarden, an Alaska state trooper who worked as the police academy's supply chief, said that most of the weapons he saw leaving the armory did have a military escort.
Saffar denies any wrongdoing. Nearly a half-dozen U.S. and Iraqi workers say his gun business was an open secret at the armory...
The investigations into missing arms are among the most serious in the widening federal inquiries into billions of dollars in military contracts for the purchase and delivery of weapons, supplies and other materiel to Iraqi and U.S. forces.
Already there is evidence that some U.S.-supplied weapons fell into the hands of Kurdish guerrillas responsible for attacks against Turkey, an important U.S. ally. Some investigators said that because military suppliers to the war zone weren't required to record serial numbers, it was unlikely that the authorities would ever be able to tell where the weapons went.
Many of those weapons were issued when Gen. David Petraeus, now the top U.S. commander in Iraq, was responsible for training and equipping Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005...
on Veteran's Day, when I gave honors to Pastor Pistle, Brother Marshall, and "Our guy in Iraq, I forgot his Name!"
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