Buy New for Our Troops

Reuters, 4/23/04
[A] U.S. general said on Thursday the rebels had “days not weeks” to turn in their heavy weapons…. Lieutenant-General James Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force…said the weaponry handed over so far was unusable “junk.”
Complete article
This is totally outrageous. This is no time to be cutting corners on vital equipment!
Of course, the weapons the Iraqis contribute are going to be “unusable junk”! What did we expect? This is a poor country, with a ruined economy. We should be giving them stuff, not the other way around.
Most Iraqis cannot afford to give us the best of their used equipment. They were bound to choose the funkier stuff to give away. There are probably many who don’t even want us to have the best. Did you ever think of that?
I say later for the penny-pinching, hand-me-downs! We should just spring for brand new equipment, fresh out of the box, and covered by solid manufactures’ warranties.