Posted on 08/20/2005 9:03:20 PM PDT by Eternal Sea
British soldiers in Iraq are being killed by advanced "infra-red" bombs supplied by Iran that defeat jamming equipment, according to military intelligence officials.
The "passive infra-red" devices, whose use in Iraq is revealed for the first time by The Sunday Telegraph, are detonated when the beam is broken, as when an intruder triggers a burglar alarm. They were used by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group against Israel in Lebanon from 1995.
A radio signal is used to arm the bomb as a target vehicle approaches. The next object to break the infra-red beam - the target vehicle - detonates the device.
Coalition officials see the disturbing development as a key part of an aggressive new campaign by Teheran to drive coalition forces out of Iraq so that an Islamic theocracy can be established.
American and British intelligence officials believe that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is training, supplying and funding part of Iraq's insurgent Shia network and that its activities have been stepped up since the spring.
Links between Shia and Sunni Muslim groups, usually via trading by criminal arms dealers, means that expertise quickly spreads across Iraq.
"These guys have picked up in two years what it took the IRA a quarter-century to learn," said an Army bomb disposal officer in Iraq.
Four British soldiers are believed to have been killed by infra-red devices made in the town of Majar-al-Kabir. The bombmaker, in his early forties, was one of the agitators behind the mob killing of six Red Caps there in June, 2003. The man, whose name is known by this newspaper but has not been published for security reasons, has connections to Iran, and has reportedly been seen with agents from Teheran. His arrest has been ordered, and two of his lieutenants were detained in June.
After the arrests, however, three soldiers from the Staffordshire Regiment were killed when their armoured Land Rover was blown up by a roadside bomb in al-Amara, last month as they were lured into a trap.
Second Lt Richard Shearer, Pte Leon Spicer and Pte Phillip Hewett died instantly as they investigated gunfire.
Guardsman Anthony Wakefield of the Coldstream Guards died from wounds inflicted by a similar infra-red device in al-Amara in May. As the "top cover" gunner, his head and shoulders were exposed in an armoured Land Rover. The bomb was set at a precise height and directed towards the road so it would hit a soldier in this position.
"This was something completely new," said one military intelligence officer. "Before, they used to keep bashing away with the same crude devices again and again. The Iranian influence has shown itself in the sophistication of their bombs and a new ability to innovate."
British intelligence reports indicate that complete infra-red devices, carefully machined in military workshops, are being delivered to Shia militants in Iraq.
British officials said Iran had also been providing Shia insurgents with "shaped charges", which use a directional explosive force to fire a metal projectile that penetrates heavy armour.
Iran's interference threatens to inflame sectarian tensions in Iraq and hasten what coalition officials dread most - civil war between the Shias and the Sunni minority.
Iran's recent elections, in which the hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president gave fresh impetus to its "meddling" in Iraq, according to Mohammad Mohaddessin, an Iranian opposition leader in exile in Paris.
"The regime in Teheran is very concerned about a democracy being created right next to Iran," he said. "They also believe that the more chaos there is in Iraq, the less attention will be paid by America and Britain to Iran's nuclear ambitions."
Iranian policy had already been boosted by Iraq's elections. They returned a Shia-dominated government led by Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who lived in exile in Iran, rather than the secular Iyad Allawi, the candidate preferred by Washington.
Before the introduction of infra-red devices, bombs in Iraq were usually set off by an electronic remote control signal found in a mobile telephone, car locking device, garage door opener or even a child's toy.
They could be blocked by electronic countermeasures developed by the Army in Northern Ireland.
These are powerless, however, against infra-red beams, which can be modified from burglar alarm systems. Military commanders have briefed soldiers to be more cautious and avoid rushing into potential attacks. Patrol routes are varied so that no pattern is set.
Infra-red beams have been used by the IRA, and by the Red Army Faction to kill Alfred Herrhausen, the chairman of the Deutsche Bank, in 1989.
"There has always been cross fertilisation of terrorist technology across the terror diaspora," said a former Army bomb disposal officer. "Infra-red is virtually impossible to jam whereas radio control and cell phone systems are jammable." # Maj Gen Ali Hamadi, who commands Iraq's border defence force, was wounded in the stomach and accused American troops of opening fire on his vehicle in Baghdad, local police reported. A US military official denied that any of their soldiers had been in the area at the time. Iraqis often accuse US troops of opening fire on motorists, sometimes killing them.
It would not be that difficult to take out the leadership of Iran. With cruise missles. Then flood the country with arms and forment a revolution. Most of the people in Iran are PRO WESTERN.
???
These are not infared bombs, they are bombs triggered by an infared beam, or by breaking it. Simply sending in robots ahead of convoys would trigger these bombs and make them useless. The MSM is trying once again to make the terrorists sound omnipotent, using their own brand of terrorism, scary news stories.
The ultimate infra-red bomb is a thermonuclear warhead set on air burst five miles over a city. It ignites every thing on fire for miles.
Perhaps we should remind them that to supply arms in an insurgency is an act of war by International Law, and now that they are a Nuclear Regiem, first strike Nuclear response is not only legal, but the wise method of war.
But they are madmen. They think Allah will protect them from bullets if they wear Korans. Perhaps they think Korans also work for Gamma rays?
err.. given iran is fighting on the side of France and Germany, i dont know about that .
A street sweeper might not have enough reach, for the vehicle moves forward. Big leaf-blower might do, though. Or mount a long forward boom on a truck (say, at 8-9 feet height) and affix to it a sail-like opaque sheet of, say, metal, or dark plastic, or still better make that sheet a curtain made of smaller strips - so that the explosion would not destroy the whole thing and knock the boom out with its sail. The thing is to hang vertically, and to be edge-wise in the direction of the vehicle movement, so as not to obstruct the driver's vision field. But spray-painting would be better (with indelible paint) - that way one can tag those near the road who might have seen the bomb planted as well.
That would work until they started using a two second delay from the time the beam is broken until the bomb goes off. Then we'd have to figure a way to counter that, and then the ball would be back in their court, and so on.
Our neighbors are Iranian. Their parents cannot liquidate their assets to the States.
Take them out---kill the Iranians
Something for Iran: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2003/g030311-D-9085M.html
"American and British intelligence officials believe that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is training, supplying and funding part of Iraq's insurgent Shia network and that its activities have been stepped up since the spring."
Reply with several fuel-air bombs, nuclear bomobs or the Left's favorite, a newspaper article talking about how the Iranians feel about being the victim of US oppression.
Hmmmmm.....<putting on Prince Metternich hat>....not much downside either way here.
Outcome one: Iraq becomes a democratic country with some sort of Islamo-democratic government (ijmaa, consensus, is also a pre-Mohammedan Arab value), whereupon, as someone noticed, the mullahs in Tehran begin defecating cinder blocks as their own people cast envious eyes toward Baghdad. Glory and honor for the United States, laurels of a world-class victor, emancipator, and peacemaker for George Bush, and we all go home happy while the Islamofascists eat their own entrails. Tony Blair goes bounding into Parliament calling loudly for questions. Conservative and radical Labour back-benchers grump impotently and sit on their hands, looking glum while Blair soaks up the limelight.
Outcome two: Ba'athists and Islamomaniacs begin to drive back the Iraqi government, U.S. leaves, Iran intervenes, civil war ensues with the Iranians backing the Shia and Kurds against the Sunni fascists........bloodbath ensues, and all the Sunnis who thought they were going to win their old place in the sun back wind up dying in a hecatomb. Syrians and Saudis jump the Iranians, Turks jump Syrians, game over. Ending positions leave Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Saudi border and 2,000 Saudi princelings standing in line outside men's rooms all over Arabia. Bin Laden reads about Iranian Guards divisions standing on the Saudi border ready to drive to Mecca and yells "Holy Shiite!" and promptly has a cow. Forty million Iranians and Arabs then fatwa each other to death while George Bush invites Tony Blair to the White House for popcorn and newsreels.
I contemplate all this and ask myself, "if I wanted to get even with all the people who danced in the street when the World Trade Center fell, where is the downside in any of this?"
One of these days it may dawn on those dumbass young jihadis that we were really trying to do them a big, fat favor, and spare them the future that most of the Iranian hotheads of the 70's failed to survive in the 80's.
A van full of terrorist prisoners would work too
Fun with photoshop.
Britain does not have
However, they do have
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That's a very good idea. 'A van full of terrorist prisoners precedes the main US army vehicle.'
It's time to act and swiftly, witha massive leaflet campaign followed by bumper stickers and T-shirts.
We'll form The Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society.' Erm, one drawback with that -- the abbreviation is 'CLITORIS.'" ~ Rimmer.
Kill A Commie For Mommie
Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes
My Sears garage door opener has an infrared beam to prevent the door from closing on pets and small children.
Can I keep it, or will I be accused of having advanced infra-red bomb-making parts in my house?
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