Iranians supplying IEDs to Iraq

Today, we start out in Iran’s proxy war against America, via IEDs in Iraq. The story has the usual caveats that the Bush Administration may be “exaggerating” the Iranian influence.

Why is the Bush administration escalating its accusations that Iran is backing Shiite extremists inside Iraq? One reason: mounting intelligence indicating Tehran has been supplying insurgents with electronic sensors that trigger roadside bombs used against U.S. troops.
The devices in question—which cost as little as $1 a piece—are called “passive infrared” sensors or detectors. They are commonly used to turn on lights or burglar alarms when someone or something passes in front of them. Over the past year, U.S. forces in Iraq have repeatedly fallen victim to sophisticated homemade bombs—known as IEDs, or improvised explosive devices—which are often rigged with passive infrared sensors.

Recent reports from U.S. intelligence agencies show that Iranian agents or brokers have ordered the devices in bulk from manufacturers in the Far East, said one U.S. counterterrorism official, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters. Bruce Riedel, a senior intelligence official who retired from the CIA only two months ago, told NEWSWEEK he too was aware of reports that serial numbers of sensors retrieved from IEDs in Iraq have been traced to orders from Iran placed with infrared-sensor manufacturers in Taiwan and Japan.

The infrared devices are particularly deadly as triggers for homemade bombs. Unlike cell phones, radio-control systems or garage-door openers—some of the other devices that have been used by Iraqi insurgents to trigger IEDs—the infrared devices do not emit a signal that can be detected before they go off. As a result, it is particularly difficult for U.S. forces to locate and defuse IEDs rigged with such triggers.

And here’s the “objective” part of the article, trying to downplay the Iranian influence in Iraq. I suppose they think al-Sadr’s many trips to Iran for instructions, and the number of Iranian Revolutionary Guards instructing the “insurgents,” are just a “small percentage” of the killers of Americans.

One senior U.S. intelligence official, speaking recently to a group of reporters on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that only a “small percentage”” of IEDs found in Iraq show signs of possible Iranian origin, though the official indicated that because of their more sophisticated design, the Iranian-linked IEDs tend to be more deadly than Sunni homemade bombs.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t an act of war an act of war, whether it is only one instance, or ten thousand? If Iran is supplying deadly ingredients and the know-how to create IEDs to kill American soldiers, then it really doesn’t matter that it’s only a “small percentage” of the bombs. Especially because the kill rate in those bombs has risen—due, no doubt, to the “small percentage” of Iranian-built IEDs.