# What happened to the Iraqi Military equipment?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 11, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619 "2007-01-11T22:49:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619/1 "2007-01-11T22:49:35Z")
I know that a lot of it was destroyed in the air raids and fighting leading up to the actual invasion, and that their actual land fighting equipment never was able to get back up to pre 1991 war levels.
But I have seen footage of US Soldiers coming across an armor lagger, with tanks or armored vehicles, weapons, ammo, and equipment just sitting there, unused. Abandoned.
More recently, I have seen pictures or video of Iraqi police or military travelling around in small trucks, or civilian style vehicles.
I seem to recall the ability to use rotor-powered aircraft was an exception to the no-fly rule (which Saddam then used to put down the post-invasion uprisings of 1991). So, in theory, there should be helicopters.
There was much press given to the fact that several Iraqi jets had been landed and given asylum by Iran.
What happened to this stuff? Wouldn’t the Iraqi police be better off driving around in armored cars?
Why isn’t the Iraqi military doing their own airstrikes? Or helicoptering?
Does anyone know the answer to this one?
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### Author:  [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2007, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619/2 "2007-01-11T23:22:05Z")
Well the civilian police would never have been a particularly high priority in Baathist Iraq.
The pre-invasion military equipment would have been out of date and any sophisticated equipment (like helicopters and planes) that survived the first war, and sanctions, would have heavily targetted during the invasion. It also had to survive the chaos the followed the invasion and the disbanding of the iraqi armed forces.
Also there was unbelievable fraud in the [Defense Ministry](http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/contract/2005/0714substandard.htm) during the US-appointed interim administration. Which seriously hampered attempts to equip the Iraqi Army.
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### Author:  [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619/3 "2007-01-12T00:13:33Z")
Granted.
But even still, one would think that, unlike the gentelmen in the markets selling AK’s, it would be harder to unload, say, a looted T-62.
And, despite how good we are at blowing stuff up from the air, they couldn’t have destroyed EVERYTHING.
Ah well. It would be nice to think of the Iraqi Military as being capable of bringing more guns to the fight than, say, the Sadr Army.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619/4 "2007-01-12T00:36:20Z")
GlobalSecurity [says:](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/ground-equipment-intro.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> Most of Iraq’s ground forces were destroyed during Operation Iraqi Freedom during early 2003, and all remaining equipment was junked in the immediate aftermath of the war. None of the military equipment acquired during Saddam’s time remained in service.
However, as of 2005, some Saddam era tanks were rehabilitated:
[Iraqi Tankers Turn Trash into Treasure](http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/aug2005/a081605la2.html)
> [@](#):
>
> Iraqi soldiers rely on wit, ingenuity and the helping hands of some U.S. soldiers to find ways to get the parts needed to keep their 1960s-era tanks in top-notch shape.
Since then the Iraqis have picked up some [free T-72’s from Hungary](http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2005/11-november/e1111a.htm) .
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### Author:  [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2007, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619/5 "2007-01-12T01:19:56Z")
Also the police force is heavily infiltrated by Shia militia (to a much higher degree than that Iraqi army) so that may also be a reason behind thier lack of equipment:
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/30/AR2006103001323.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/30/AR2006103001323.html)
As shown in Squink’s link there is plenty of old Soviet armour in the hands of the Iraqi Army. But as demonstrated in Afghanistan and Chechnya that is not always the most effective equipment for anti-insurgency campaigns.
As I said like of Helicopters and Planes would be far less likely to survive the sanctions, invasion, and post-invasion chaos. And seeing as the decision was made to build up the Iraqi army from square one, rather than keep the any of old hierachy it would be MUCH harder to train and equip an airforce from scratch than an army (and we’ve not been too successful with that). One of items that suffered as a result of corruption in the interim government was attempts to rebuild the airforce. From the article I linked to above:
> [@](#):
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> In one case, a team of Iraqi defense inspectors traveled to Poland to check on what they understood to be a fleet of refurbished transport helicopters that cost the government more than $100 million. What the inspectors found were 24 Soviet-era helicopters, each about 30 years old and way past its prime. Disgusted, the Iraqi team refused the aircraft and returned to Baghdad empty-handed, with neither helicopters nor the money paid up front for them. “You could say the helicopters were out of order,” al-Duleimi said.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619/6 "2007-01-12T01:38:59Z")
The total tab for that particular corruption ran [to $1.27 billion](http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/front2453634.0680555557.html):
> [@](#):
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> An official Iraqi audit said $1.27 billion allocated by the Defense Ministry for military procurement in 2005 was embezzled by officials and suppliers. In a report completed in May, the Board of Supreme Audit blamed the theft on U.S.-appointed senior Defense Ministry officials, including a former defense minister.
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### Author:  [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2007, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619/7 "2007-01-12T03:00:49Z")
This is all interesting (and kind of sad).
According to Wikipedia, the Iraqi aircraft that flew to Iran for refuge were never returned, and are now part of the Iranian airforce. Weird.
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### Author:  [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2007, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619/8 "2007-01-12T04:19:50Z")
Going back to the Cold War era (and correct me if I’m wrong):
There were two standards for military systems, the Soviet system and the American system (an analogy would be Mac and Windows). The military equipment was meant to integrate to a certain degree. Each system had their clients. Iraq was a client of the Soviets and Iran was a client of the Americans. That is what led to the Iran-Contra scandal. Iran, under the Shah, was buying their equipment from the US. When he was overthrown, the Iran military needed spare parts but could only procure them through American sources. Therefore, in order to raise cash which Congress wouldn’t appropriate for the Contras, the Reagan administration decided to sell parts at highly inflated prices to Iran.
Iraq, on the other hand, was a Soviet client. Therefore, a huge arms supplier like the US would look on that hardware as incompatable, obsolete and bad for the suppliers’ business of selling hardware at highly inflated prices to the US government.
Remember, arms, war, and the military industrial complex are not about politics and philosophy, it’s all about money.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2007, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-iraqi-military-equipment/387619/9 "2007-01-12T04:40:49Z")
[QUOTE=Tristan]
And, despite how good we are at blowing stuff up from the air, they couldn’t have destroyed EVERYTHING.
[/QUOTE]
We’re also pretty good at destroying things from the ground, and the 3ID–among others–_did_ pretty much destroy everything.