US arms for Iraq unaccounted for

The Pentagon cannot account for 190,000 guns provided to the Iraqi security forces – raising concerns that insurgents may be using US-supplied weapons to attack coalition troops.

The US has spent $19.2bn (£9.4bn, €14bn) training and equipping the Iraqi security forces, which the Bush administration argues is necessary to allow American troops to withdraw.

But a report by the Government Accountability Office, the oversight arm of Congress, questions whether the Pentagon has kept adequate track of the weapons and equipment it has provided the Iraqis.

According to the GAO, the US supplied Iraqi soldiers and police with 185,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 170,000 pistols between 2003 and September 2005. But the report said the Pentagon had lost track of 110,000 rifles and 80,000 pistols. It said the defence department could also not account for 135,000 pieces of body armour and 115,000 helmets.

The report comes as some US legislators are raising concerns about recent alliances forged between the American military and groups in Iraq that may have previously targeted US soldiers. In some provinces, particularly in the Sunni stronghold of al-Anbar in the west, US troops have provided weapons to Iraqis for the purpose of fighting members of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

On Sunday, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, defended such moves, saying that at some point the US would have to work with groups that previously attacked its forces.

“By the time this whole thing is over we’ll have had to make arrangements with a variety of people that at one time or another were opposed to us,” said Mr Gates. “That’s the way the political process is going to evolve in Iraq.”

The GAO report concluded that the US-led coalition in Iraq did not have adequate procedures in place to ensure accountability for the weapons. It cited former military officials as saying the discrepancies between the weapons procured and provided to Iraqis were the result of insufficient staffing and the lack of a good distribution network.

The findings come as a team led by retired general James Jones prepares to report to Congress next month on the Iraqi security forces.

This report is expected to examine the current capabilities of the Iraqi forces, in addition to estimating when they might be in a position to take over from US troops.