Missing in Yemen: $500M in US Weapons

With Yemen deep in turmoil and the US Embassy closed, American officials admit that they have no way of knowing what has happened to approximately $500 million in US weapons and equipment that the Pentagon has supplied to the country since 2007. "We have to assume it's completely compromised and gone," a legislative aide tells the Washington Post.

The Post notes that even if all the weapons end up in the hands of al-Qaeda rebels or the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who have taken over much of the country, gun ownership rates in the country are so high that the US weapons won't alter the balance of power. Earlier this week, the Shiite rebels who seized the capital months ago freed Yemen's prime minister and other top government ministers from house arrest, the AP reports. (More Pentagon stories.)