The U.S. military has established an intelligence team
to find bombmakers and their support cells in Iraq.
U.S. officials said the intelligence team began operations in late 2004
as part of an effort to use the Iraqi military to identify
and track producers of so-called improvised explosive devices. IEDs
comprised nearly 22 percent of all attacks against coalition forces in 2004
and the leading cause of casualties, Middle East Newsline reported.
"MNF-I has established a team in Iraq to develop the intelligence
necessary to effectively target those funding and making IEDs, as well as
those who actively employ them," U.S. Central Command chief Gen. John
Abizaid said. "We are attempting to deny the enemy access to bomb-making
materials, are focusing on technologies that provide persistent surveillance
along our likely routes of travel, that help neutralize undiscovered IEDs
and detect them outside their intended blast zone."
Abizaid said Central Command has been developing new materials that can
better protect U.S. troops. But he said the effort has failed to halt IED
attacks, stressing the need for offensive operations.
"Centcom requires the very best efforts of the national science and
technology community to generate effective counters to IED's and other
threats to our troops," Abizaid said. "As always, our best success against
enemy activity comes in the form of focused, precisely targeted offensive
actions designed to destroy enemy fighters and organizational structures."
Over the last year, Central Command has accelerated an effort to
up-armor Humvees. Officials said more than 7,000 Humvees have been
up-armored and that the effort would be completed by June 2005.
The U.S. military has also used a South African-origin mine protective
clearance vehicle to help dispose of mines and IEDs. The Buffalo vehicle
contains a robotic arm that allows army engineers to check suspicious items
without summoning a full-fledged explosive ordance disposal team.
In testimony to Senate Armed Services Committee on March 1, Abizaid said
Central Command has worked with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to establish the
Joint IED Defeat Integrated Process Team [IPT]. The team has investigated
more than 260 ways to defeat IEDs with new technology and development of new
materials.
"The IPT has focused on developing next generation protection materials
for personnel, infrastructure, buildings and material," Abizaid said.
"Additionally, the IPT is investigating technologies that will increase our
force protection standoff capability for the detection of chemical,
biological, and explosive devices. To date, the IPT has fielded scores of
advanced technologies to defeat IEDs and protect our soldiers from IED
effects."
The Central Command task force has joined a Pentagon task force on
protection from IEDs. The task force has focused on developing technology
and training troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to detect and avoid roadside and
other bombs.
"It is the method the enemy uses that accounts for most of the killed
and wounded in action," Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel, head of the Pentagon-led
Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Task Force, said. "We've done a
pretty good job of trying to reduce the casualty ratio, and we've been able
to reduce that by about 40 percent over the last year," he said.
In an interview with the Pentagon satellite channel, Votel said the
military has increased procurement of up-armored equipment and applied new
technology. He cited the use of jammers against radio-controlled detonators,
which he said has been "no silver bullet, but one tool in our tool kit that
can be applied."
