Sick And Tired Of Government Nonsense?

[sjl127]

Check this out...

How the hell did Venezuelan troops wind up with M16's?

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052008...ct/photo01.htm

[Agent Ronin]

Originally Posted by sjl127

Check this out...

How the hell did Venezuelan troops wind up with M16's?

Same reason that Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, etc. All have M16's as their principle service weapon. My guess is its all Cold War era posturing. Its our Hemisphere so we provided USA Weapons instead of letting the Soviets trade arms with our southern neighbors.

[pex]

The US has a regular policy for the disposition of surplus (both new and used) to foreign nations. A nation just says to the US "hey could we have your extra guns, ammo, tanks, helicopters, and health equipment at low costs your citizens would love to buy at?" The US then says yes and gives a big fuck you to the citizenry, and sells it's surplus.

I discovered this specifically when I was researching the rising costs of 7.62x39. I'll find an example sale bill that I posted elsewhere so I can qualify my claims. (example I can remember was Colt M4s or M16s for 1229, sold for 400...)

BBL

While I do research:
I guess the program is called Excess Defense Articles
http://www.dsca.mil/programs/eda/search.asp
They may be able to receive military surplus from us via other programs. Equip and Train, maybe?
Authority to transfer excess defense articles:
http://www2.law.cornell.edu/uscode/u...1---j000-.html

An organization has given us an easy-reading format to look at this stuff. Here is Argentina in 1999 (from http://www.ciponline.org/facts/edaar.htm#1999):
Item Offered Accepted Original Value (offered) Current Value (offered) Original value (delivered) Current value (delivered)
H557 Light anti-tank weapon 900 0 390,600 195,300 0 0
M113A2 Armored personnel carrier 57 57 13,956,108 2,791,233 13,956,108 2,791,233
M106A2 Mortar carrier 25 25 5,135,000 1,027,000 5,135,000 1,027,000
M16A2 Rifle 1945 0 1,139,770 60,295 0 0
A-4 spares 0 0 6,500,000 653,398 0 0
A-4 ground support equipment 0 0 5,300,000 522,330 0 0
M249 Machine gun 349 0 925,897 46,417 0 0
M203 Grenade launcher 245 0 145,285 7,350 0 0
WLM-685 Buoy tender (red wood) 1 1 1,900,000 760,000 1,900,000 760,000
WLB-394 Balsam class buoy tender (hornbeam) 1 0 1,900,000 760,000 0 0
44' motor life boats 8 0 960,000 384,000 0 0
2F-90A Ta-4j aircraft operational flight simulator 1 0 1,819,920 363,984 0 0
Point hobart patrol boat 1 1 575,000 172,500 575,000 172,500
WLM 688 Red cedar buoy tender 1 1 1,900,000 570,000 1,900,000 570,000
LST 1179 Newport-class tank landing ship (uss newport) 1 0 53,051,000 5,305,310 0 0
J52-P-8C Jet engine 23 0 6,302,000 315,100 0 0
TA-4J Skyhawk aircraft 23 0 29,854,000 1,492,700 0 0
Onboard spare parts 0 0 3,333,334 1,000,000 0 0

So Argentina was offered 1945 M16A2 rifles, purchased at 586 a piece, for somewhere between 0 to 31 a piece (plus shipping). Surely someone in America would have paid more than 31 bucks for just the package of all the licit parts!

[ar15jules]

Originally Posted by sjl127

Check this out...

How the hell did Venezuelan troops wind up with M16's?

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052008...ct/photo01.htm

Maybe in thirty years when Venezuela doesn't want them anymore, they will be offered to us at the CMP???????????????

[pex]

lol.

the real kicker is:

The Washington-based General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress, has revealed that Washington has disposed surplus weapons with a book value of more than three billion dollars since the end of the Cold War in 1989.

http://commondreams.org/headlines01/0717-05.htm

lol@tax dollars.