イラク派遣軍の腐敗に見るアメリカ軍の官僚社会度

　8月の下旬に「マリキ政権の薄氷 」でイラク駐留軍の武器横流し疑惑を紹介しましたが、久々に記事になってます。
　あのとき引用したのはNew York Timesの「Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations」って記事でしたが、今回報じているのもNYT 、記事書いたのも同じERIC SCHMITTって記者ですね。

　問題のタイトルは「Broken Supply Channel Sent Arms for Iraq Astray」で、とにもかくにも、アメリカがイラク治安部隊補強のために送った銃器の内、拳銃とAK-47あわせて19万挺が行方不明になっており、それには米軍人、軍属が関与している疑いが高い

Activities at that armory and other warehouses help explain how the American military lost track of some 190,000 pistols and automatic rifles supplied by the United States to Iraq's security forces in 2004 and 2005, as auditors discovered in the past year.

こんな話があったわけなんだけど、その続報だな。

　で落とし所としてはイラク人軍属のカシム・アル・サファーちゅう奴が悪いちゅうところになるんだろうけど、先回名前の挙がったLevonda Joey Selph中佐は今回も名前が挙がっているんだが、どうもこの女は座敷牢らしい。
そしてオフィシャルがしきりに行っているらしい言い訳が

General Petraeus has said that he opted to arm the Iraqi forces as quickly as possible, before tracking systems were fully in place.

とか

Some military officials involved in supplying the Iraqis describe the sense of urgency they felt and the need to cut through what they saw as a cumbersome military bureaucracy.

とかなんだな。

　つまり、当時ペトラウス司令官にとっては一刻も早くイラクの治安部隊に装備を行き渡らせることが至上命題だった、そして面倒な官僚機構の手続きを無視しない限りその命題は達成出来なかった。
こんな自己弁護なんだが、ペトラウスを護るために臭いものには蓋、こんな結末になるんだろうな。

　さて無視された手続き、これは先稿にも書いたんだけど、援助用に到着した武器のシリアルナンバーはまったく記録されなかった。
よって暫くの間は何がどれだけ入ってどれだけどこに出ていったか分からないまんまで出たり入ったりしたちゅうことなんだが、その間の経緯に関しては色々と生々しい証言が紹介されている。

　これはアル・サファーに関する退役した空軍曹長John Tisdaleの証言なんだけど

But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his own private arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some American officials and executives, selling AK-47 assault rifles, Glock pistols and heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand - Iraqi militias, South African security guards and even American contractors. "This was the craziest thing in the world," said John Tisdale, a retired Air Force master sergeant who managed an adjacent warehouse. "They were taking weapons away by the truckload."

ちゅうんだから、アル・サファーはアメリカ軍当局者の見て見ぬふりの中で武器庫をあたかも自分の武器市場のように振る舞って、誰にでも現金売買してたちゅうんだな。
同じくJohn Tisdaleの証言として

Mr. Tisdale, who recalled seeing a briefcase stuffed with stacks of $20 bills under Mr. Saffar's desk, said he thought Mr. Saffar enriched himself selling American stocks along with guns he acquired from the streets. Mr. Tisdale was supposed to sign off on any transactions by Mr. Saffar, but he said many shipments left the armory without his approval and without the required records.

ちゅうのもある。

　別に問題なのは

Mr. Saffar managed an armory on the grounds of the Baghdad Police Academy, which along with a nearby warehouse was operated by an American-owned company based in Kuwait. In July, the company, American Logistics Services, which later became Lee Dynamics International, was suspended by the Army from doing future business with the government amid accusations that the company paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to military contracting officers. The company had won $11 million in contracts to manage five warehouses with arms and other equipment in Iraq. The company's armory, a long concrete building divided into two sections in the back, was a logistics hub for the new Iraqi police.

つまり、贈賄で告発されたアメリカ資本の会社も関わっている疑いがあるということ、そして、

"There were truckloads of stuff moving out of that armory without my authorization," Mr. Tisdale said. Mr. Tisdale said that he complained repeatedly to two top American Logistics executives, but they assured him that Mr. Saffar's dealings were proper. The company has not responded to requests for comment.

　前述の空軍曹長が兵站関係の高級将校に抗議を行ったけれども、彼らは黙殺したっと。

　そして空軍曹長達は座敷牢のLevonda Joey Selph中佐に関しても

Mr. Tisdale and other co-workers said they believed that an American military official, Lt. Col. Levonda Joey Selph, an Army officer who oversaw the warehouse contract and whose activities have been part of the investigation into American Logistics, also must have known about the arms dealings. Mr. Tisdale said the colonel regularly visited the armory and met with Mr. Saffar. Mr. Nordgaarden recalled seeing Colonel Selph at the warehouse 8 to 10 times over a year.

と語っているんだけど座敷牢で終わり。
もう一人名前の出ているCox少佐ちゅうのも帰国して座敷牢。
そして連邦政府のこの事件に関する基本姿勢は

However, federal officials said the officers were not the targets of an investigation.

ちゅうんだからこりゃもう我が国のフィブリノゲン薬禍と同じ官僚病なんだが、これではイラクで死んだ兵隊達も、この武器で殺されたとも言われるトルコ兵も浮かばれん罠。

Already there is evidence that some American-supplied weapons fell into the hands of guerrillas responsible for attacks against Turkey, an important United States ally.

参照記事
Broken Supply Channel Sent Arms for Iraq Astray
Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations