Death Toll Sparks U.S. Debate On Origin of IED Expertise in Iraq Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> User-Agent: eGroups-EW/0.82 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Length: 4665 X-Mailer: Yahoo Groups Message Poster X-Yahoo-Post-IP: 68.98.145.15 X-Yahoo-Newman-Property: groups-compose Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Yahoo-GPoster: GxZ5ZA0Vs8ahSq=6
"American troops killed by IED attack spiked during the last three months, with 35 deaths in May, 36 in June and 39 in July." http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3D949750&C=3Dlandwar Posted 08/15/05 14:54 Death Toll Sparks U.S. Debate On Origin of IED Expertise in Iraq By GREG GRANT The rising death toll and level of sophistication found in ever more powerful improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq has sparked a U.S. debate over whether outside expertise, particularly from Iran, is to blame. Fourteen U.S. Marines were killed and their amphibious tracked vehicle destroyed Aug. 3 in western Iraq by an IED, bringing the U.S. toll so far this year to 225 troops killed by such devices, compared with 206 during all of 2004, according to Iraq Coalition Casualties, a Web site that tracks American losses to IED attacks. American troops killed by IED attack spiked during the last three months, with 35 deaths in May, 36 in June and 39 in July. The high death toll comes even as U.S. military leaders claim the overall number of IED attacks has declined. Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, speaking to reporters Aug. 3, said that while there has been a drop in the total number of IED attacks in the past few months, IED =EF=BF=BDlethality has remained very, very high.=EF=BF=BD He said the climbing IED death toll was a result of ever larger insurgent bombs. At a press briefing Aug. 9, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that three stacked land mines destroyed the vehicle Aug. 3. The military is using the Marine deaths to highlight the infusion into Iraq of sophisticated shaped-charge explosives manufactured in Iran. In response to a reporter=EF=BF=BDs question at the Aug. 9 briefing directed at Myers regarding reports of Iranian explosives being used, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responded, =EF=BF=BDIt is true that weapons, clearly, unambiguously, from Iran have been found in Iraq.=EF=BF=BD Yet Iraqi-manufactured shaped charge explosives were used to attack U.S. forces in late 2004. In a briefing in Kuwait on Feb. 10, U.S. Army special operators, part of a counter-IED team, said shaped-charge IEDs were being used against American armored vehicles. That same month, Lt. Col. Shawn Weed, an intelligence officer with the Army=EF=BF=BDs 3rd Infantry Division, said that a new insurgent trend was the use of homemade shaped-charge explosives, dubbed =EF=BF=BDplatter charges.=EF=BF=BD The American commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. John Vines, speaking to reporters from Baghdad June 21, played down the notion of outside expertise coming into the country. =EF=BF=BDThey are certainly getting some outside advice, but there is some technical expertise that was resident in the Iraqi Army, probably from their explosive ordnance personnel.=EF=BF=BD He said it is not so much technical sophistication that=EF=BF=BDs a problem; the lethality of the IEDs comes from a combination of bombs. =EF=BF=BDThe tactical expertise to do that, that capability exists here in the country,=EF=BF=BD he said. A decidedly low-tech arms race has been under way in Iraq as insurgent bomb makers circumvent American countermeasures. Initially, IEDs in Iraq were small charges made from individual 60mm and 81mm mortar rounds. In response to the up-armoring of American Humvees, the military=EF=BF=BDs primary tactical vehicles, insurgents increased the size of the bombs, using 122mm and 152mm artillery shells. They then began using multiple stacks of heavy artillery shells, or multiple launch rocket warheads, rocket motors and 500-pound airplane bombs, explained American military sources. Insurgents have buried 500- and 1,000-pound aircraft bombs to target heavy armored vehicles such as tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. The bombs are buried vertically, pointing upward, with the weapon=EF=BF=BDs nose just below the surface. The hard-packed dirt around the bomb focuses the explosion upward and against the underside of a vehicle, said Capt. Aaron Duncan, an intelligence officer with the Army=EF=BF=BDs 3rd Infantry Division. A bomb of that size can generate a blast equivalent to 10 large anti-tank mines, all aimed at the underside of an armored vehicle. In January, a 1,000-pound bomb destroyed an Abrams tank. That same month, a Bradley was destroyed by an IED made from four 152mm artillery shells. =EF=BF=BDOut in the country, it was not uncommon to see a 250- or 500-pound bomb emplaced in the road,=EF=BF=BD Army Col. Mike Formica said June 14 at an Army-sponsored conference at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif. =E2=80=A2 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12h2leo2h/M=362329.6886306.7839369.3040540/D=groups/S=1705323667:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1124158386/A=2894321/R=0/SIG=11dvsfulr/*http://youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=1992 ">Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back!</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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