Posted on 09/29/2011 4:41:07 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
The next three months in Iraq will look like a veritable fire sale, as 45,000 U.S. forces prepare to leave by the Dec. 31 deadline.
Rather than ship home valuable military hardware, incurring excessive shipping costs, the Pentagon is simply going to leave millions of pieces of equipment behind, including everything from vehicles and body armor to trailers and air conditioners.
When all is said and done, Pentagon planners estimate 3.47 million pieces of equipment worth $313 million will be handed over to the Iraqi government, which still has not asked U.S. forces to stay beyond the December deadline.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
We need to stay the hell out of sandland...and make sure they stay the hell out of here.
Very smart! So we borrow from China, spend it in Iraq, and protect oil supplies to China! Very smart!! Never mind that we will be paying interest for ever to the Chinese because budget surpluses are...well non-existent.
Given the scrap yards in SE Asia and elsewhere, the scrap metals alone would pay for the shipping.
it is worn out and not worth thec cost of transport and rehab
new stuff. new jobs
It’s worth it just to get the hell out of there.
Anything that can be used as a weapon should be destroyed, leave the rest for them as a good will gesture.
The last plane leaving Iraq with our men should have AMF’s written on the tail.
You are probably right on the used hardware in Iraq. My frustrations stem from the Trillions we spent in Iraq (and are still spending) with money borrowed from China who is not our friend. China gets most of their oil from the middle-east. So a win-win for them. And what do we have to show for the sacrifice in blood and treasure? As soon as our troops leave (coming up soon on 0Bama’s calendar) Iran will take over the oil fields. Sometimes I wish Trump was in charge.
-——And what do we have to show for the sacrifice-—
we have a change in the histotical tide in the region. it was a history changing war.
China gains nothing of significance. that is much over stated.
Why not auction it off to AMERICAN companies and let them pay their own shipping costs? Even if we only got 20 cents on the dollar, that’s a lot of money, considering what’s on the ground over there.
Eh, no big deal, it would cost more to ship it back than the stuff is worth so they leave it there for the natives. We dumped far more military hardware into the ocean after WWII than what it sounds like they are talking about here.
All on the tax payers backs.
The government might as well start strafing us.
Indeed it is BS. The government is not thinking as usual. If they let a private entrepreneur do it for them, he would be in Iraq selling back surplus equipment to anyone in the region or even in America, and voila’.
I am sure plenty of Americans would not be unhappy having the opportunity to buy uparmored HMMV, but, you see, it is not PC for us to have opportunities, we are to become peasants.
But will you feel the same way after the majority shia in Iraq side with Iran and the oil fields are taken over by Iran? This change will take place soon after our troops are withdrawn.
Incidentally, China now owns $1.16 Trillion of US debt.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503983_162-20037535-503983.html
And we will be paying interest on it for decades to come since there is no budget surplus as far as the eye can see!
IMHO we will be back to battle against our former ally and equipment. In my area and I’m sure others folks are scrambling for scrap to survive and we leave a zillion tons to a natural enemy. Wow what a ride.
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if we aren’t still buying stuff for over there.
What really grinds my gears about this is that we make troops pay for lost 782 gear, but then give away what amounts to at least a few brigade sets of equipment - to Iraq.
My father in law was a bomber pilot in the Korean War. When he and the other crews were coming back, they noticed pallets of M1911 pistols, M1 Garand and M1 Carbines sitting near the tarmac.
They asked what was going to happen to those weapons and were told that the pallets were being loaded onto barges and torpedoed. They each grabbed one or two pistols and Carbines and brought them back in the AC vents of the aircraft. He gave me the Carbine and will give me the 1911 later.
Folks, I am in Iraq right now and these transfers of equipment are my primary job. Trust me, 85% of this stuff is junk. The vehicles we are leaving behind are 5 to ten years old and have been ridden so hard that all but a handful in the entire country (the top brass vehicles) require extensive and costly repairs. We are not allowed to transfer weapons or IT equipment among many other sensitive items. Other items being transferred are foreign specific vehicles, trucks and equipment which are not DOT certified and therefore not usable in the states. These assets like the American vehicles have bullets holes, huge dents, thousands and thousands of miles and hours and the possible sale value is less than what it would cost to get the items to Kuwait, Qatar, or Jordan for resale.
Every time I submit a transfer package to the J staff, the package is returned with a benefit to the U.S. spreadsheet attached. Here is just a small example, a single split unit air conditioner costs about 400 dollars new - it would cost 1800 dollars to get that same AC unit from Baghdad to the east coast.
The decision to spend the money on the war and these items are not my decision and one I won’t comment on, but I can tell you this program and these transfers make financial sense. Great thought and attention is being given to getting the important stuff home and “gifting” the less desireable items to the Iraqis.
Have a great day - Chip
An AF Lt in Iraq
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