Iraqis Abandoned US-Supplied Equipment in Ramadi (M-1 tanks)
Oh great. Destroying an M-1 tank is no easy task. The only really sure way is to land a JDAM right on top of it. Air strikes will have to be diverted from other targets to take care of it. It’s a pretty good bet that we have now destroyed more of our M-1s than our enemies have. Thanks Bush.
WASHINGTON - Iraqi troops abandoned dozens of U.S military vehicles, including tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery pieces when they fled Islamic State fighters in Ramadi on Sunday, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, estimated that a half dozen tanks were abandoned, a similar number of artillery pieces, a larger number of armored personnel carriers and about 100 wheeled vehicles like Humvees. He said some of the vehicles were in working condition; others were not because they had not been moved for months.
This repeats a pattern in which defeated Iraq security forces have, over the past year, left behind U.S.-supplied military equipment, prompting the U.S. to destroy them in subsequent airstrikes against Islamic State forces.
Asked whether the Iraqis should have destroyed the vehicles before abandoning the city in order to keep them from enhancing IS’s army, Warren said, “Certainly preferable if they had been destroyed; in this case they were not.”
More: Iraqis Abandoned US-Supplied Equipment in Ramadi - Middle East - Stripes
Update: Jubilant ISIS guy with recently donated M-1