Most of the products discarded or sold by the military have been deemed
non-lethal, such as air conditioners and refrigerators. Iraqis, however,
have reported finding or buying U.S. military equipment such as
ammunition clips, bipods and body armor, all of which could be used in
insurgency operations.
"We do not determine where it goes," Perna, the military logistics
director in Iraq, said. "It is transferred over to them [Iraqi authorities],
and they tell us where they would like it to go and that's where we send
it."
Over the last few months, Iraqis were said to have found a range of
discarded U.S. equipment in the western desert near the border with Syria.
They were reported to have included dismantled combat vehicles, satellite
dishes and tents.
Officials said material that could not be sold, such as toxic waste, has
been disposed of, usually in the desert. Much of military equipment, they said,
has been transferred to Afghanistan as part of the NATO stabilization
campaign.
"We have already, since last May, turned in or redistributed 32,000
pieces of rolling stock, over 850,000 pieces of non-rolling stock, and as a
point of reference, we have sent over 150,000 items to Afghanistan in
support of that operation," Perna said.
The U.S. military, which has already left more than 370 bases and
outposts, has been under a September 2010 deadline to withdraw all combat
troops from Iraq. This would leave 50,000 trainers and support personnel in
Iraq until the end of 2011.
"More than half of the items of equipment have already been moved back
to the United States, transferred to the government of Iraq, or placed on
disposition for Operation Enduring Freedom," U.S. military spokesman Maj.
Gen. Stephen Lanza told a June 14 briefing.
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