GAO says equipment oversight lax

GAO says equipment oversight lax

	Published : Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:47 By : Agencies Print this Story

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States has provided $19.2 billion to develop Iraqi security forces, but the military can't fully account for the Iraqi forces' receipt of the U.S.-funded equipment, government auditors reported Tuesday.

The finding by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, comes a few days after the Pentagon acknowledged the U.S. and its allies have delivered a little more than a third of the equipment in the pipeline for the Iraqi Army and less than half of what is destined for the Iraqi police.

Baghdad officials have long complained that the lack of equipment has made it difficult to train and equip Iraqi forces.

Since the program's beginning, the GAO found that consistent records confirming the date of issue, what type of equipment was received, and by what Iraqi unit were not kept. Before December 2005, no centralized records were kept. While the situation started improving in 2006, problems still exist, the GAO said.

'GAO's review of the January 2007 property books found continuing problems with missing and incomplete records,' the report said.

The GAO found a discrepancy of at least 190,000 weapons between the data reported by the unit charged with implementing the program to train and equip Iraqi forces and the property books where such details are supposed to be kept.

In addition to the $19.2 billion used, the Defense Department recently requested another $2 billion for the program.

GAO recommended that accountability procedures be put in place, and that adequate staff and technology be made available for the program.

In a letter to the GAO, Mark Kimmitt, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said he agrees with the recommendations.

'In view of the matters raised in the GAO report, DOD is reviewing policies and procedures to ensure U.S. funded equipment reaches the intended Iraqi Security Forces under the program,' Kimmitt said.