Iraqis to Pay China $100 Million for Weapons for Police

[babylonsister]

Iraqis to Pay China $100 Million for Weapons for Police
Experts Fear More Will Go to Insurgents

By Robin Wright and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 4, 2007; Page A12

Iraq has ordered $100 million worth of light military equipment from China for its police force, contending that the United States was unable to provide the materiel and is too slow to deliver arms shipments, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said yesterday.

The China deal, not previously made public, has alarmed military analysts who note that Iraq's security forces already are unable to account for more than 190,000 weapons supplied by the United States, many of which are believed to be in the hands of Shiite and Sunni militias, insurgents and other forces seeking to destabilize Iraq and target U.S. troops.

"The problem is that the Iraqi government doesn't have -- as yet -- a clear plan for making sure that weapons are distributed, that they are properly monitored and repeatedly checked," said Rachel Stohl of the Center for Defense Information, an independent think tank. "The end-use monitoring will be left in the hands of a government and military in Iraq that is not yet ready for it. And there's not a way for the U.S. to mandate them to do it if they're not U.S. weapons."

News of Iraq's arms deal came as Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top U.S. commander for day-to-day operations in Iraq, told editors and reporters at The Washington Post yesterday that he expects a U.S. troop presence will be required in the country for a minimum of "at least three to five more years" and will involve 25,000 to 50,000 troops, depending on security conditions.

Detailed planning is underway for the U.S. military to begin scaling back its primary mission from one of fighting a counterinsurgency to an advisory and training role, which will involve pulling U.S. troops out of Iraqi cities and closing some U.S. bases, Odierno said. Odierno and Talabani, who met separately with Post editors and reporters, said they expect their governments to finalize a long-term bilateral security pact in 2008.

The capabilities of Iraqi security forces are pivotal to the U.S. exit strategy in Iraq, with the creation of a viable police force critical to reconciliation. Talabani said only one in five Iraqi police officers is armed and called for faster weapons delivery from the United States to beef up Iraq's fledgling army.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/03/AR2007100302464.html?hpid=topnews

[Bitwit1234]

1. Oh so that's what they are doing with our taxpayer money

Now we know where it went. Not really. But I do wonder if they have that much money to give to China, why are we footing the bill for the so-called rebuilding of Iraq by Halliburton et al.

[babylonsister]

2. But WE really do want to pay for them!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3016571