A report by Congress said that 190,000 weapons issued to the Iraqi military and security forces have disappeared. The Government Accountability Office said the equipment included firearms, body armor and helmets allocated by the Defense Department in 2004 and 2005, Middle East Newsline reported.

"It [U.S. military] cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armor and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces," the GAO report said. "DOD and MNF-I [U.S. military] cannot fully account for Iraqi forces' receipt of U.S.-funded equipment."

Entitled "DOD Cannot Ensure That U.S.-Funded Equipment Has Reached Iraqi Security Forces," the report was issued as Turkey asserted that the Iraq Army has transferred U.S. weapons to Kurdish insurgents in northern Iraq. The United States has pledged to investigate the Turkish complaint.

GAO said the U.S. military lost track of the 190,000 weapons that were to have been supplied to the Iraqi security forces from June 2004 and September 2005. The report said the military has not confirmed that U.S. weapons were actually delivered to Iraqi troops.

"It has not consistently collected supporting records confirming the dates the equipment was received, the quantities of equipment delivered, or the Iraqi units receiving the items," the report said. "Since 2006 the command has placed greater emphasis on collecting the supporting documents. However, GAO's review of the January 2007 property books found continuing problems with missing and incomplete records."

Over the last four years, the United States has spent $19.2 billion on Iraq's military and police. The Defense Department has allocated $2.8 billion to equip the Iraqi security forces, which number around 350,000.

"As of July 2007, DOD and MNF-I had not specified which DOD accountability procedures, if any, apply to the train-and-equip program for Iraq," the report said. "Congress funded the train-and-equip program for Iraq outside traditional security assistance programs, providing DOD a large degree of flexibility in managing the program, according to DOD officials."

"These officials stated that since the funding did not go through traditional security assistance programs, the DOD accountability requirements normally applicable to these programs did not apply," GAO said. "Further, MNF-I does not currently have orders that comprehensively specify accountability procedures for equipment distributed to the Iraqi forces."

GAO cited the lack of trained U.S. military personnel, data entry errors and the use of a spreadsheet reporting system overwhelmed by the volume of equipment. The Pentagon agreed with the report, and said oversight and security were being bolstered.

"Given the Department of Defense's request for an additional $2 billion to develop Iraqi security forces, improving accountability procedures can help ensure that the equipment purchased with these funds reaches the intended recipients," the GAO said. "In addition, adequate accountability procedures can help identify Iraqi forces' legitimate equipment needs, thereby supporting the effective development of these forces."

Congressional investigators also determined that the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has "made unsatisfactory progress" toward increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently. They said the government has failed to develop plans to purge the security forces of Sunni and Shi'ite militias.