Iraq insurgents boost power of explosives

[leftchick]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200501/s1278827.htm

Insurgents in Iraq have been using more powerful makeshift bombs in the past two weeks, including a recent roadside attack that killed seven US troops in an armoured vehicle, a Pentagon military official has said.

"We've noticed in the recent couple of weeks that the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) are all being built more powerfully, with more explosive effort in a smaller number of IEDs," Army Brigadier General David Rodriguez told reporters at a Pentagon briefing on Iraq.

"That trend has occurred over the last two weeks," he added about the new tactic. "It is mainly in the Sunni triangle."

There are "a lower number of IEDs, but they have been more powerful," Brig Gen Rodriguez said, noting that a powerful explosion in north-west Baghdad on Thursday took the lives of seven American troops in an armoured Bradley fighting vehicle.

The general could offer no explanation for the new tactic, including whether or not the insurgents were using new experts to cobble together explosive shells and other devices.

... and no one asks just where the explosives came from.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Not securing the high-explosives sites is biting the coalition in the ass

...in a big way.:grr:

The oil wells were secured first, yet they still have major problems with the oil supply in Iraq.

And Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz still have a job.

And Tommy Franks is wearing the Medal of Freedom.

*sigh!*

[leftchick]

2. It is only a matter of time before the SAMs reappear....

supplied by some sympathetic country to the cause. This is so fucked up in so many ways and was so predictable.... :argh:

[UpInArms]

3. looks like those missing explosives are starting to turn up

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/25/iraq.explosives/

excerpt:

"The immediate danger" of the lost stockpiles is its potential use by insurgents to make small, but powerful, bombs, an expert told the Times. The expert said the explosives could be transported easily across the Middle East.

According to the Times, the stockpiles missing from Al Qaqaa are the strongest and fastest in common use by militaries around the globe.

The Iraqi letter to the IAEA identified the vanished explosives as containing 194.7 metric tons of HMX, or "high melting point explosive," 141.2 metric tons of RDX, or "rapid detonation explosive," among other designations, and 5.8 metric tons of PETN, or "pentaerythritol tetranitrate."

Fleming said the IAEA, whose mission is to keep track of everything with potential nuclear weapons applications, had been monitoring about 100 sites in Iraq, but there were only a few of special concern, including Al Qaqaa.

"This is a real massive quantity of explosives that could have reached the hands of insurgents and could be used with deadly force and consequences against people in Iraq," Fleming said.

...more...

(edited for html)

[PA Democrat]

5. Is it my imagination, or was this story dropped like a hot potato

by the MSM? I have not heard nor seen any mention of those missing explosives since the first 2 weeks after this story initially broke.

[UpInArms]

6. I wonder how much the suppression of that particular news story

cost us?

NCLB cost at least $240,000 to just one pundit -

This really is getting ridiculous, isn't it?

[PA Democrat]

10. Yes, ridiculous and sad

We also know that news execs have bargained with the Bush White House, exchanging increased access for favorable news coverage. I have lost all trust in the so-called "free press", as well as my government. There are no checks and balances.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

11. It was eclipsed by the Scott Petersen thingy... much much more

important in the grand scheme of things don't you know.... NOT.

[bemildred]

7. PETN (looked it up)

PETN is one of the strongest known high explosives. It is more sensitive to shock or friction than TNT or tetryl, and it is never used alone as a booster. It is primarily used in booster and bursting charges of small caliber ammunition, in upper charges of detonators in some land mines and shells, and as the explosive core of primacord.

Notice the "more sensitive to shock or friction than TNT or tetryl" part.

[oneighty]

12. PETN

Was used as detonator material in an air dropped sea mine years ago.It was used because the mine could be dropped without a parachute from a height of 30,000 feet requiring a rather insensitive explosive (Fulminate of Mercury was normal det/material for sea mines-very sensitive). In Primacord it is quite insensitive. If memory serves me is is the prime ingredient in C-4.

Good stuff PETN

180

[DrZeeLit]

4. Finding those explosives, one car bomb at a time.

Working that into my next bumper sticker, but adding something about the Bush Admin or Rummy. Sheesh, what DID they think was going to happen? Besides the "greeted with flowers" b.s.?

[roseBudd]

8. Love your sig pic! Are those your pets? n/t

[DrZeeLit]

9. Nah, not my pets. Somebody sent me this and I howled.

but I think I should have made it a bit smaller, do you think?

[anarchy1999]

13. Maybe "they" in the Pentagon can use the Fallujah "roadmap" for all

of the "Sunni triangle", including Baghdad. That plan should/would work in time for January 30th elections, right?

Especially with more decisions re: torture and criminal behavior coming out, like six months for drowning a 19 year old for being out after curfew.