You have to hand it to those trained by Rumsfeld, Feith and Perle, they are the best in the business at coming up with exactly the stupidest possible plan. What does Iraq currently have a critical shortage of??
Shit that blows up.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration told Congress on Friday of plans to sell Iraq about 400 million rounds of small arms ammunition, 170,000 grenades, demolition explosives and other military gear and services valued at up to $508 million.
Hell, as it is now folks sometimes have to walk as much as 70 feet to find something that will blow up, and that's simply unacceptable.
The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the Iraqi government had asked for up to 100 million rounds of both M855 5.56mm and 7.62mm ammunition for small arms, as well as about 200 million other bullets.
400,000,000 rounds of small arms ammo for a Country that had 25,000,000 people before we started killing them and invited Al Qaeda in to help us.
As part of the proposed package, the United States would sell 170,000 40mm HEDP grenades, 80,000 C-4 1-1/4 pound plastic explosive packets and 4.2 million feet of detonating cord.
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170,000 High Explosive Dual Purpose Grenades
Described here
The 40-mm HEDP grenade has a small shaped charge that penetrates better than the HE round. It also has a thin wire wrapping that bursts into a dense fragmentation pattern, creating casualties out to 5 meters. Because they explode on contact, 40-mm rounds achieve the same penetration regardless of range.
No way any insurgents or terriers will ever use any of those against our troops, but they are just the thing to settle an argument in the neighborhood about who was right 800 years ago...
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80,000 C-4 1-1/4 pound plastic explosive packets
100,000 pounds of plastic explosives, like the place wasn't swimming in the explosives we failed to secure/destroy because Rumsfeld didn't think we needed more than about 75,000 troops to invade and occupy the place...
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4.2 million feet of detonating cord
Let me admit right off that I absolutely LOVE detonating cord, easily the most fun off all off-the-shelf explosive toys available (nuclear detonation simulators are more spectacular, but they are hard to get and folks tend to be picky about when and where you can light one off). Det cord is handy for all sorts of fun stuff, like "daisy chaining" a bunch of explosive charges together for near-simultaneous detonation, or wrapping around something you want to cut in two. A few wraps around a neck, a blasting cap and presto!, instant decapitation!
The deal would also involve up to 75 million gallons (341 million liters) of diesel, 2.9 million gallons (13 million liters) of JP-8 jet fuel and 56.4 million gallons (256 million liters) of motor gasoline, the statement said.
Snark about selling petroleum products to Iraq exceeds my capabilities, just quote me as saying "WTF?" here...
Just go read the whole thing, and visualize me shaking my head in befuddlement and shame...