The IED Marketplace
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in The War On Terrorism, WarI just ran across a great article on Global Guerillas about the methods of financing and creating an Improvised Explosive Device or IED for short.
The reason I bring this up is because of the tragic death of 14 Marines after one of these devices upended their 25 ton device. This stuff is getting very serious so we need to understand it.
The post sheds more light on the “IED cell”, a group of terrorists who create and employ these devices. This part concerns “The Financier”:
While all IED cells in Iraq are not alike, they tend to follow a similar organizational pattern. They are almost exclusively made up of Sunni extremists. The typical IED cell numbers no more than six to eight people who collect intelligence on American forces, gather explosive materials, manufacture the bomb, place the device, carry out the attack and then evaluate the results. At the top of the IED cell is the planner or financier (“hot money”), a “money man” who is most often a well educated and intelligent former Baathist government official or military officer. He is ideologically motivated in his fight against the American occupation. These “white collar” leaders are the most difficult cell members to identify, explained Formica. Even if fingered by an informant or other means, the leaders are so good at covering their tracks it’s nearly impossible to develop sufficient evidence to detain them. And if captured, they’re smart enough not to say anything. Only 5 percent to 10 percent of the insurgents captured by the Americans are cell leaders.
The post also outlines four more members of the cell: The Bomb Maker, The Emplacer (the one who places the bomb in the location), The Triggerman and The Suicide Car Bombers.
Definitely worth reading.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 4th, 2005 and is filed under The War On Terrorism, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 4th, 2005 at 4:36 pm
don’t sunni extremist realize that the USA and coalition are their best chance for survival. If they continue the bite the hand that feeds them, we’ll be gone and the Shites will have thier guts for garters
August 5th, 2005 at 8:52 am
From a recent NYT article, the IED are getting bigger. Much bigger:
New York Times: Insurgents Using Bigger, More Lethal Bombs, U.S. Officers Say
August 5th, 2005 at 9:49 am
Hehe, I guess you didn’t click on the link in my post that said “tragic death of 14 Marines”. Same link. ;-)
August 5th, 2005 at 9:55 am
Hey, at least I didn’t hunt down the same quote you posted and paste it as a comment.
=P
August 5th, 2005 at 10:11 am
Now THAT would have been funny. Montag needs a little more sleep this morning folks. :^)
August 5th, 2005 at 10:27 am
[...] We intercepted a very large shipment of explosives used to make IEDs. Apparently the shipment came from Iran. Our government says that the Iranian government had to have something to do with it, aiding terrorist groups that operate inside the country, like Hezbollah, to do their dirty work. [...]
August 9th, 2005 at 8:56 am
[...] I believe we’re seeing this because the Administration hasn’t been able to demonstrate to the United States or the world what trying to stabilize the Middle East will do to help terrorism. I know I’m still sketchy about this idea at best. Especially when we see signs that Iran is helping the terrorists inside Iraq with IEDs [...]