Posted on 02/07/2018 7:31:40 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
US report confirms nine Abrams tanks ended up with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Nine Abrams tanks the United States had provided to Iraqi forces for the battle against the Islamic State (IS) are now in the hands of the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militias, a US military audit confirmed.
A quarterly inspector general report for the US mission in Iraq and Syria, released on Feb. 2, confirms that M1 Abrams battle tanks and other lethal equipment provided to the Iraqi government by Washington have ended up with the Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
“The US Department of State acknowledged that some US-provided military equipment sent to support the mission, including as many as nine M1 Abrams tanks, had fallen into the hands of Iranian-backed militias that fought against [IS] in Iraq,” the report read.
The report added that the Department of State pressed the Iraqi government to prioritize the return of defense articles provided by the US as designated in the sale agreements.
In late January, Iraq-based al-Ghad Press claimed that American company General Dynamics, who produces the Abrams tanks, had suspended its maintenance program in Iraq over the Hashd al-Shaabi’s possession of one of the US-made tanks.
“The US tank company [General Dynamics] withdrew from its base in Baghdad’s al-Muthanna airport after finding out that Iraq violated the terms of the contract which only authorized the Iraqi army to use the US provided tanks,” the report stated.
Al-Ghad Press also said the company had threatened “a final withdrawal” from Iraq if it was proven that Iran, which backs the Hashd al-Shaabi, had reproduced the tank.
However, when asked to confirm the reports, a State Department official told Kurdistan 24, “The Abrams maintenance program for the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) is still currently active, and there is no plan to discontinue it in the near future.”
Meanwhile, the inspector general report added that “Iran continued to exert influence in Iraq through its relationships with some Shia militias belonging to the PMF.”
If I were a responsible DOD head, I'd recapture/BLOW the DAMN THINGS UP ASAP!
After the attack in Benghazi, the Obama Administration sent weapons, armored vehicles and night vision equipment to a warehouse in Libya.
They intentionally left the warehouse unguarded and everything was “stolen”.
In Libya.
After the Libyans killed four Americans.
McCain is wondering why the fuss -
The Iranians genuinely appreciate the quality of US equipment, and have since the Shah. You didn’t see them ordering Russian passenger airplanes...
Those variants were probably export and didn’t have all the “cool toys”.
McLame is Elated!!
Sure trump won but Obama is still running things with the insanity from his past administration.
We need them back so we can put them in our parade.
I hope like hell they are full up armored
Iran backed?
It’s obvious it’s Iraqi government backed. They got not 1 but 9 American tanks.
Highly like just a powerful shia militia.
Now would be a really good time to see if the A-10 can do as much damage to an American made M1 Abrams, as they do to foreign tanks!!
Send in the BUFFs
Tanks break down. Do they have the spare parts? And the expertise to fix them?
Send in the A-10s!
They can. Dont worry about that.
Tanks eventually will be nearly a thing of the past-abt 20 years or so.
They probably have enough data and specs from one to reverse engineer it.
But it's never too late to vaporize each one with a Tomahawk - or 2 or 3.
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