U.S. rushes to give away military equipment

As the U.S. prepares for a military pullout in December, the Department of Defense is giving away billions of dollars worth of equipment. Elaborate military bases, vehicles and spare ammunition will be handed off to the Iraqi government, The Huffington Post reports.

The bases being turned over were built for $2.4 billion, according to federal reports cited by The Huffington Post. And Maj. Gen. Thomas Richardson, the chief logistics officer in Iraq, said that the U.S. had given away equipment worth $247 million between Sept. 1, 2010 and August of 2011 on top of items worth $157 million that had been transferred before the withdrawal officially started.

The Pentagon also estimates that $110.5 million worth of excess defense items -- weapons, vehicles, and body armor, for example -- will be given away when the transfer is finished