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Millions' worth of gear left in Iraq
Washington comPost ^ | 12/7/2009 | Ernesto Londoño

Posted on 12/07/2009 1:33:20 PM PST by markomalley

Even as the U.S. military scrambles to support a troop surge in Afghanistan, it is donating passenger vehicles, generators and other equipment worth tens of millions of dollars to the Iraqi government.

Under new authority granted by the Pentagon, U.S. commanders in Iraq may now donate to the Iraqis up to $30 million worth of equipment from each facility they leave, up from the $2 million cap established when the guidelines were first set in 2005. The new cap applies at scores of posts that the U.S. military is expected to leave in coming months as it scales back its presence from about 280 facilities to six large bases and a few small ones by the end of next summer.

Some of the items that commanders may now leave behind, including passenger vehicles and generators, are among what commanders in Afghanistan need most urgently, according to Pentagon memos.

Officials involved say the approach has triggered arguments in the Pentagon over whether the effort to leave Iraqis adequately equipped is hurting the buildup in Afghanistan. Officials in the U.S. Central Command, which oversees both wars, have balked at some proposed handovers, and previously rejected an approach that would have granted base commanders even greater leeway.

U.S. commanders in Iraq say they have been judicious in assessing what equipment to earmark for donation. Alan F. Estevez, a deputy undersecretary of defense, wrote in an e-mail that "an important and vital goal is to leave behind fully functioning bases to the Government of Iraq to enable Iraq's civil capacities."

But a U.S. military official critical of the process said the new regulations allow too much latitude to commanders, provide little oversight and fail to account for the urgent need of American forces in Afghanistan, which need the same kinds of items...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: bhodod; defensespending; gear; iraq; oif; postwariraq; surplus; usmilitary
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To: driftdiver

True. I don’t like the fact of just giving it away, though.


21 posted on 12/07/2009 2:08:59 PM PST by randomhero97 ("First you want to kill me, now you want to kiss me. Blow!" - Ash)
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To: markomalley

I am told that after World War 2 shiploads of jeeps and tanks were dropped in the ocean to save the cost of bringing them home, and to prevent their sale in the US from keeping automotive sales from being high.


22 posted on 12/07/2009 2:16:16 PM PST by Venturer
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To: randomhero97
Bringing a lot of that stuff back costs more than it's worth. Therefore, assuming it won't be used against us, it's better to leave it there. After WWII, perfectly good fighters stationed on remote bases were bulldozed in place.

Even with the Alaska pipeline, perfectly good heavy equipment hauled up there at great expense was sold for sub-scrap value because bringing it back to the lower 48 wasn't cost effective.

23 posted on 12/07/2009 2:17:09 PM PST by fso301
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To: markomalley

So much for caring about our economy, saving money, and well, protecting our interests.


24 posted on 12/07/2009 2:18:03 PM PST by Freedom2specul8 (Vote conservative....Please pray for our Troops, our Vets, our Country, Families and Friends)
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To: markomalley

My Daddy still talks about the Cat dozers driven off the wharfs and piers in the south Pacific at the end of WWII.

He was a Seabee.

Aside from the cost of shipping them back, they didn’t want to flood the market with used equipment and depress sales of new dozers.

Let the Iraqis get what use out of the stuff they can.


25 posted on 12/07/2009 2:25:34 PM PST by TC Rider (The United States Constitution - 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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To: markomalley

Called booking out in the old days, leaving equipment behind. Damn, shows what the military command thinks of the tax payers hard earned dollars.


26 posted on 12/07/2009 2:34:46 PM PST by org.whodat
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To: ksm1

Am I the only one here that doesn’t see this as a problem?

Look, if we want the Iraqi Army to be able to stand up to al-Qaeda, Iran, and Syria, then the sooner that we can equip them, the better. If it means giving them old hand-me-downs instead of shipping them back to the US where old equipment probably would have been recycled/sold as surplus anyway, that’s fine with me. In a perfect world, the Iraqi MoD would be paying market value, but considering that they are still in the developing phase, you can’t expect that yet.

*********************************

Another FReeper pinged that the sand would wreak havoc on their lifespan anyway.


27 posted on 12/07/2009 2:41:08 PM PST by ROTB ("By any means necessary" is evil. See what God thinks of "rising oceans" in Jeremiah 5:22)
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To: ksm1

Good common sense post!


28 posted on 12/07/2009 2:48:32 PM PST by TigersEye (Sarah Palin 2010 - We Can't Afford To Wait)
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To: driftdiver
Or it could be the fact the equipment is wore out and it would cost more to move it than its worth.

I was a kid when the WWII vets returned. One guy said that they had a ball driving brand new 4x4 trucks off the LST ramps into the Pacific. The current Conspiracy Theory was that the govt didn't want to undermine the automakers at home.

29 posted on 12/07/2009 2:48:46 PM PST by Oatka ("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." –Bertrand de Jouvenel)
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To: Night Hides Not

Yes, and doubtful that they have put in much (or are leaving behind) of anything that is “new” in the past 3 or 4 years.


30 posted on 12/07/2009 2:59:13 PM PST by NEMDF
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To: randomhero97

Yeh man We foot the bill AGAIN. The Iraqi’s should pony up or at least give us some free oil. Then the Rats would be partially right about us getting the oil but as of now they remain the deceitful liars about the Iraqi war.


31 posted on 12/07/2009 5:00:00 PM PST by tflabo
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To: ksm1

‘Zactly. :)


32 posted on 12/07/2009 6:28:34 PM PST by Allegra (It doesn't matter what this tagline says...the liberals are going to call it "racist.")
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