GAO Report Chides Pentagon

[DoYouEverWonder]

July 21, 2006, 10:06 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- Undercover government investigators purchased sensitive surplus military equipment such as launcher mounts for shoulder-fired missiles and guided missile radar test sets from a Defense Department contractor.

Much of the equipment could be useful to terrorists, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

In June, two GAO investigators spent $1.1 million on such equipment at two excess property warehouses. Their purchases included several types of body armor inserts used by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, an all-band antenna used to track aircraft, and a digital signal converter used in naval surveillance.

"The body armor could be used by terrorists or other criminal activity," noted the report, obtained Friday by The Associated Press. "Many of the other military items have weapons applications that would also be useful to terrorists."

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-pentagon-surplus-sales,0,2590959.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines


You would think the GAO could muster a bit stronger response then to 'chide' the Pentagon?

[Up2Late]

1. I'm still trying to recover from Tuesdays hearing where they admitted...

...the nobody at the Pentagon has ever estimated how much the War in Iraq will eventually cost.

Then theres the huge increase in the usage of AK's on the streets of Washington D.C.

[DemonFighterLives]

2. How convenient NT

:argh:

[ClintonTyree]

3. Yet we continue to pour money into......

that most wasteful of departments as if there's a never ending supply. We have 5% of the world's population yet we spend 50% of the world's COMPLETE TOTAL on weapons and war. When it comes to "guns or butter" in our country GUNS win every time. :grr: Millions are living in poverty in our own country, dying of disease and lack of medical care, have nowhere to live and can't support themselves even if they DO find a job, yet the Pentagon's cornucopia of money NEVER runs out. Indeed, they have so much, TOO much, that they're forced to sell this "surplus" for pennies on the dollar just to get it out of warehouses.

And the average American doesn't see anything WRONG with this picture? :wtf: Granted, we must have a strong defense in our country but this entire situation has gotten completely out of hand. We DON'T HAVE the money to waste on these boys and their war toys and the Pentagon's budget needs to be pared down, at least by 1/3, and we'd STILL have the most bloated defense department in the world BY FAR.

This "surplus" equipment going to our "enemies" aside, the real problem is the Pentagon budget itself. WHY do they have all of this "surplus" equipment in the first place? Cut the Pentagon's budget, make them do with far less. They'd continue to be the world's best and biggest anyway but we just might have the money the to take care of some of our country's other more pressing problems then. Like any of this would ever happen though. It's a lost cause as long as war is our biggest export.

[The Wizard]

4. It's all about impotence

Weapons make for a great substitute when the important one misfires.

[MasonJar]

5. Actually the title of the article says "raps." The Dept. of Rumsfield

at work again. I am astounded that there is any excess body armor for sale since our troops do not have enough...probably the faulty ones.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Some dickhead editor

changed the title since last night. I hate when they pull that crap.

[rabblerowzer]

7. Military Industrial Complex: a self-perpetuating moneymaking war machine.

Military Industrial Complex: a self-perpetuating moneymaking
war machine.

There are no true democracies in the world. Every country is
ruled by a religious, military or economic elite, and no
matter how they represent themselves, it all boils down to
money and power. All wars, including holy wars and religious
crusades are sold to the masses as self-defense to justify
conquest for loot and power: treasure, territory, natural
resources, etc. 

The elites get the treasure and power, and the foot soldiers
get the glory, (which lasts about fifteen minutes). 

Israel and the United States have what scientists call a
symbiotic relationship: “an interaction between two organisms
living together in more or less intimate association or even
the merging of two dissimilar organisms for mutual benefit.
The term host is usually used for the larger (macro) of the
two members of a symbiosis. The smaller (micro) member is
called the symbiont.”

It is unclear who is the host and who is the symbiont in the
US/Israeli relationship. 

The actual glue that binds the US and Israel elite together is
the Military Industrial Complex, a jointly owned,
self-perpetuating commercial enterprise. The US gives Israel
billions of dollars in aid every year, which Israel uses to
feed the Military Industrial Complex. 

 Now, if you can admit that all wars, including holy wars and
religious crusades are sold to the masses as self-defense to
justify conquest for loot and power: treasure, territory,
natural resources, etc,  what do you think the war is really
all about?

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Could you imagine if they spent all that time and money

on developing things that would benefit people, rather then destroy them?

BTW: Welcome to DU :hi:

[Harry Monroe]

9. Spending like drunken sailors on a bender

Published on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 by Agence France Presse
US Has No Idea of 'War on Terror' Cost: Watchdog

The US government has lost track of the cost of the "war on terror" unleashed after the September 11 attacks and which is now taking up tens of billions of dollars a year in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Congress watchdog warned.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that neither the Defence Department nor Congress had any accurate idea how much the war has cost since the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

It said Congress has appropriated about 430 billion dollars for "war on terror" spending, which includes military operations and reconstruction costs in Iraq, but raised concerns about the way the money was being accounted for.

The GAO said it had already found "numerous problems" with Defence Department "processes for recording Global War on Terror (GWOT) costs". It said that the Pentagon had not done enough since the previous criticism in September to overcome the problems.

It said there was too much use of estimates instead of real cost data and a lack of documentation.

"As a result, neither DoD (Defence Department) nor the Congress reliably know how much the war is costing and how appropriated funds are being used or have historical data useful in considering future funding needs," said the report.

The GAO said that only the Defence Department even tried to formally track "war on terror" costs though money has also been alloted to the State Department and other agencies.

It estimated that up to April this year, the Pentagon has reported costs of about 215 billion dollars for the Iraq war and almost 58 billion dollars for operations in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and the Philippines.

According to the GAO, US military and diplomatic commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan "will continue for the foreseeable future and are likely to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars."

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0719-02.htm

[renegade000]

10. To be honest,

body armor inserts, all-band antennas, digital signal converters, radar test sets?
terrorists and criminals could probably easily acquire these even if this particular source was shut down.