Hey, They're Only Iraqi Cops

From Knight-Ridder comes the latest in DOD graft.

WASHINGTON - When the Pentagon went shopping for seven armored cars for senior Iraqi policemen, U.S. officials turned to an Iraqi supplier to provide them some hardened Mercedes-Benzes.
After spending nearly $1 million, here's what they got: six vehicles with bad armor and run-down mechanics. They also were a little more than slightly used: The newest model was a 1996; the oldest, a 1994.

According to the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, the seventh auto is missing.

In a report released Monday, the inspector general said the Pentagon couldn't get its money back because it did such a bad job negotiating the no-bid deal.

In June, the Pentagon's Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq bought the seven Mercedes-Benzes for $135,000 each. They were supposed to include high-quality armor that could withstand high-velocity rifle shots.

There's much more at the above link.

Now, one would think that our people in Iraq would at least kick the tires before spending roughly a million dollars for seven, yes only 7 'armored vehicles.'

And some adjutant bean-counter should have maybe asked something like: "Hey, I see six vehicles here. Didn't we pay for seven?"

Somehow, the pollyanna-ish adage; "When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade" doesn't appear to fix this situation. The DOD bought lemons for sure. But these lemons are too bitter a pill. That the 'lemonade' adage doesn't apply here would be the main bullet-point of this paragraph. (I know how lousy that ghastly attempt at phrasing is..moving right along..)

On a more positive note, maybe the DOD will start using the newly designed vehix.com before purchasing any more vehicles. I know that their listings for armored personnel transport is small at present, but I'm told by an insider that they are moving forward with that module ;)