I've seen a few of you touch on the answer, but not hit it dead on. It's because there were already thousands of unissued AK's already there. I was guarding an airstrip just south of Tikrit in April/May-ish of 03'; I watched them ship in maybe 50 (literally) 5 tons FULL of surendered AK's, unload them into a hole about 20 feet deep and the size of three football fields, cover them with some type of powder(?) and push the dirt over them and pack it down. I about cried, then seriously contemplated running over there with my e-tool to try and save them. Shortly after that, another 20 or 25 5 tons showed up heaping with military crates filled with brand spankin' new AK's, RPK's, RPD's, RPG's, and what I've seen called SSG 97's here in the states. They stacked those crates about 4 or 5 high and evenly spaced, maybe a hundred yards long and 50 yards wide. Talk about a conflict of interest, it was like a nursury on top a graveyard. To this day I take a peek at it every once in a while on Google Earth and think about whats burried there.