Deadly bomb technology enters Iraq from Iran-general

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Sophisticated technology and
explosives to make improvised bombs killing U.S. and other troops in Iraq
are apparently entering the country virtually unhindered from Iran, a senior
British general said on Friday.
Royal Marines Maj. Gen. James Dutton spoke with reporters in a
teleconference from Basra in southern Iraq a day after the Pentagon
announced plans to increase efforts to find ways to defend against
improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, used by insurgents that are the
leading cause of U.S. casualties in the war.
Dutton said he did not know whether the Iranian government or its
intelligence service, or perhaps other unspecified groups, were helping
Iraqi insurgents smuggle explosives or completed bombs across the porous
border into Iraq.
"I simply don't know whether this is official Iranian policy," said
Dutton, who commands a 13,000-strong multinational division in southeastern
Iraq.
"The IED explosives, particularly the advanced technology IEDs ...
we believe the technology is coming across that border," Dutton said. "We're
not, regrettably, capturing these arms as they come across the border."
"You wouldn't expect me to go into great details about how we know
that. But we're pretty convinced that that is where these things are coming
from," Dutton added.
Dutton said the devices in question included crude but effective
"explosively formed projectiles," which are cylinders filled with explosives
and capped with a copper or steel plate. The plate penetrates the armor of
military vehicles, to devastating effect.
The general said coalition forces in his region were working closely
with the Iraqi government and border security guards to better police the
area, and noted that at least one large cache of explosives was found by
Iraqi forces in August.
IRAN DENIES CHARGES
Britain and the United States have accused Iran or the Tehran-backed
Lebanese group Hizbollah of providing military expertise to Iraqi insurgents
behind attacks on British troops in southern Iraq.
Iran denies meddling in Iraq and says the accusations against it are
tied to efforts by Washington and London to report Tehran to the U.N.
Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program.
The Pentagon said it is considering putting a more senior officer in
charge of a task force set up last year to deal with the homemade bombs. The
United States said it was also adding more experts to the effort.
The Pentagon said more than half of all U.S. casualties in Iraq stem
from homemade bombs, which are often buried along a road or hidden inside
debris or even animal carcasses and usually detonated by remote control or
with a timer. The Pentagon said on Friday that 2,035 U.S. soldiers had been
killed and nearly 15,500 more wounded in a war that started in March 2003.
"I think we're not completely certain where the manufacture takes
place," said Dutton of the devices.
"We know where the technological know-how comes from and we suspect
where the parts come from," he said. "Where they are actually put together
is something that we're working on."
 
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