Iran supplying deadliest bomb in Iraq
Michael Gordon, NY Times:
This graphic shows the layout of the attacks with these weapons. I think the infra red triggering device requires that a vehicle break the beam directed toward the road. If that is the case it may be possible to defeat it by continuously projecting an infrared beam toward the sides of the road from the vehicles. It is also possible to detect this type of beam with special glasses that can see them. These have been around for years and were used before the current night vision technology came along.
The fact that the attacks with these weapons dropped off in January is probably attributable to the effect of the surge and the arrest of the Iranians in Iraq. Thea attacks with these Iranian devices is consistent with my argument that Iran has been at war with the US since 1979. It will use any opportunity to inflict casualties on the US wherever it can and the Ayatollahs recent threats to do so if the US attacks Iran is only a continuation of their current policy.
This AP report indicates that many in Congress have viewed the evidence of Iran weapons used in Iraq.
The most lethal weapon directed against American troops in Iraq is an explosive-packed cylinder that United States intelligence asserts is being supplied by Iran.There is much more.
The assertion of an Iranian role in supplying the device to Shiite militias reflects broad agreement among American intelligence agencies, although officials acknowledge that the picture is not entirely complete.
In interviews, civilian and military officials from a broad range of government agencies provided specific details to support what until now has been a more generally worded claim, in a new National Intelligence Estimate, that Iran is providing “lethal support” to Shiite militants in Iraq.
The focus of American concern is known as an “explosively formed penetrator,” a particularly deadly type of roadside bomb being used by Shiite groups in attacks on American troops in Iraq. Attacks using the device have doubled in the past year, and have prompted increasing concern among military officers. In the last three months of 2006, attacks using the weapons accounted for a significant portion of Americans killed and wounded in Iraq, though less than a quarter of the total, military officials say.
Because the weapon can be fired from roadsides and is favored by Shiite militias, it has become a serious threat in Baghdad. Only a small fraction of the roadside bombs used in Iraq are explosively formed penetrators. But the device produces more casualties per attack than other types of roadside bombs.
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The link that American intelligence has drawn to Iran is based on a number of factors, including an analysis of captured devices, examination of debris after attacks, and intelligence on training of Shiite militants in Iran and in Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and by Hezbollah militants believed to be working at the behest of Tehran.
The Bush administration is expected to make public this weekend some of what intelligence agencies regard as an increasing body of evidence pointing to an Iranian link, including information gleaned from Iranians and Iraqis captured in recent American raids on an Iranian office in Erbil and another site in Baghdad.
The information includes interrogation reports from the raids indicating that money and weapons components are being brought into Iraq from across the Iranian border in vehicles that travel at night. One of the detainees has identified an Iranian operative as having supplied two of the bombs. The border crossing at Mehran is identified as a major crossing point for the smuggling of money and weapons for Shiite militants, according to the intelligence.
According to American intelligence, Iran has excelled in developing this type of bomb, and has provided similar technology to Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. The manufacture of the key metal components required sophisticated machinery, raw material and expertise that American intelligence agencies do not believe can be found in Iraq. In addition, some components of the bombs have been found with Iranian factory markings from 2006.
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Several of the cylinders are often grouped together in an array. The weapon is generally triggered when American vehicles drive by an infrared sensor, which operates on the same principle as a garage door opener. The sensor is impervious to the electronic jamming the American military uses to try to block other remote-control attacks.
When an American vehicle crosses the beam, the explosives in the cylinders are detonated, hurling their metal lids at targets at a tremendous speed. The metal changes shape in flight, forming into a slug that penetrate many types of armor.
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Marine officials say that weapons have not been found in the Sunni-dominated Anbar Province, adding to the view that the device is an Iranian-supplied and Shiite-employed weapon.
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This graphic shows the layout of the attacks with these weapons. I think the infra red triggering device requires that a vehicle break the beam directed toward the road. If that is the case it may be possible to defeat it by continuously projecting an infrared beam toward the sides of the road from the vehicles. It is also possible to detect this type of beam with special glasses that can see them. These have been around for years and were used before the current night vision technology came along.
The fact that the attacks with these weapons dropped off in January is probably attributable to the effect of the surge and the arrest of the Iranians in Iraq. Thea attacks with these Iranian devices is consistent with my argument that Iran has been at war with the US since 1979. It will use any opportunity to inflict casualties on the US wherever it can and the Ayatollahs recent threats to do so if the US attacks Iran is only a continuation of their current policy.
This AP report indicates that many in Congress have viewed the evidence of Iran weapons used in Iraq.
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