In The Days

• Source: USA Today
• News Date: 1/31/07
• Author: Tom Vanden Brook

WASHINGTON — A sophisticated type of roadside bomb that U.S. officials have linked to Iran has been used increasingly against U.S. troops in Iraq.

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity the sea and the waves roaring;”
—Luke 21:25

The device is called an explosively formed projectile (EFP). It is usually made from a pipe filled with explosives and capped by a copper disk. When the explosives detonate, they transform the disk into a molten jet of metal capable of penetrating armor. They perform in the same way that U.S. anti-tank missiles do.

“Properly handled, it goes through armor like a hot knife through butter,” said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org, a military think tank in Alexandria, Va.

Officials such as Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte have said the new bombs are being provided by Iran and are killing U.S. troops. U.S. officials have declined to say exactly how many have been killed or how the weapons have been traced to Iran, which has denied supplying them.

Maj. Anne Edgecomb, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the military wants to limit the information available to insurgents about the effectiveness of their attacks. That’s the same reason the Pentagon says it no longer identifies troops killed by Iraqi snipers.

Last week, the Pentagon announced for the first time that an explosively formed projectile had killed a U.S. soldier. The attack occurred Jan. 22 in Baghdad, according to the Pentagon’s announcement. It killed Spc. Brandon Stout, 23, of Grand Rapids, Mich. The Pentagon later changed the announcement. It removed the reference to an EFP and said only that Stout had died in an attack by an improvised explosive device, the general term used to describe roadside bombs in Iraq.

Since Dec. 4, EFPs have killed four other soldiers, according to published reports and family memorials:

•On Dec. 4, Army Sgt. Jay Gauthreaux was killed by an IED explosion in Baqouba, Iraq, the Pentagon said. A Dec. 20 report in U.S. News & World Report magazine said his Humvee was hit by an EFP.

•On Dec. 25, Army Sgt. John Bubeck, Spc. Aaron Preston and Pfc. Andrew Nelson were killed by an IED in Baghdad, the Pentagon said. A website run by Preston’s family said he was killed by an EFP.

USA TODAY could not independently confirm either the magazine report or the website information.

Negroponte told Congress on Jan. 18 that the new weapons have killed U.S., coalition and Iraqi troops.

The bombs must be machine-milled to precise specifications in order to work properly, said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a member of the Armed Services Committee. There are indications that some explosively formed projectiles used in Iraq may have been manufactured in Iran, he said. “There’s a lot evidence that there’s some Iranian connection in producing or at least disseminating the technology,” Reed said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also a member of the Armed Services Committee, said he believed Iran was involved in supplying advanced IED technology to insurgents. “My concern is that we’re dealing with a thinking enemy who has adapted his techniques to be more lethal in the area of IEDs,” Graham said.

Reed and Graham did not cite specific evidence.

IEDs are the largest killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. According to Pentagon figures through Jan. 20, they have killed 1,327 troops and wounded 11,861 others.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week, “We are trying to uproot these networks that are planting IEDs that are causing 70% of our casualties.”