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From: Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 12:49 PM To: Bruce Tefft Subject: Re: FW: Upgraded Terror Bombs They didn't need to go that far. As soon as I saw the photos of the wreck, I identified it as a shaped charge, perhaps more than one, buried along the edge of the road and going up into the vehicle at a near vertical angle from the right side. The vehicle was split in half, lengthwise. People who criticize the AAAV-7 as being too lightly armored are misinformed. This device would have killed an M-1 tank easily. No vehicle is armored heavily on the bottom and, even if it was, this would still do the trick. People misunderstand the role of the armor on APCs. It is NOT designed to stop tank rounds, anti-tank rounds or heavy artillery impact direct hits. It is designed to protect against shell splinters and small arms fire. This is yet another example of a clueless media blowing something far out of proportion. I've also seen letters from people decrying the fact that there were so many men in one vehicle and that they should be spread out more. This vehicle had 16 people, one survivor. It has a crew of three and can carry 25 combat-equipped troops, so it had about half of a standard load. People should do their homework before offering their "expert" opinions so freely. Following is some info on the armor from GlobalSecurity.org "The AAV-P7A1 Amtrack provides protected transport of up to 25 combat-loaded Marines through all types of terrain. The engine compartment can be completely water-sealed, making it seaworthy. It has an enhanced applique, armor kit, or sandwich-plated steel armor, with a layer of Kevlar underneath, to protect the troops from high-caliber weapons fire. It's firepower consists of an M2 .50-cal. machine gun, an MK-19 40mm grenade launcher, and a line charge with C4 explosives for use in clearing mines. It can move at speeds of up to 45 mph on land and five knots at sea." R Washington Times August 8, 2005 Upgraded Terror Bombs By Jack Kelly Wednesday, 14 Marine reservists from Ohio were killed when a powerful roadside bomb was detonated near the amtrac in which they were riding, hurling the 23-ton vehicle into the air as if it were a toy. The incident spurred a spate of journalistic commentary about the suitability of the amtrac - designed to ferry Marines from ship to shore-as an armored personnel carrier. The real problem, said retired Marine Col. Mackubin Owens, a professor at the Naval War College, is the increasing sophistication of terrorist bombs. Insurgents are using bigger explosives, and have learned how to "shape" the charge so the explosive force goes directly toward the attacked vehicle, instead of dissipating in all directions. "They'll go right through a heavily armored vehicle like an Ml tank from one side right out the other side," said retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey. >From whence might the insurgents have acquired such weapons and expertise? NBC's Jim Miklaszewski provided a hint in a broadcast Thursday: "U.S. military and intelligence officials tell NBC News that American soldiers intercepted a large shipment of high explosives, smuggled into northeastern Iraq from Iran only last week. The officials say the shipment contained dozens of shaped charges manufactured recently." This was old news to Iran expert Michael Ledeen, who learned about the seizure a week before Mr. Miklaszewski's broadcast. A reporter was baffled by Mr. Ledeen's ho-hum response. "So what?" Mr. Ledeen said. "It happens almost every day." The reporter was amazed the Shi'ite Muslims who run Iran would supply deadly weapons to Sunni extremists in Iraq who use them, often, to kill Shi'ite Muslims. The reporter's amazement was a product of the same blindness that declared Saddam Hussem and al Qaeda could not cooperate, because the latter were religious fanatics who disliked Saddam because he was secular. They forgot the oldest adage in diplomacy is "the enemy of my enemy is my friend. "The Koran, whatever the particular exegesis employed, is no obstacle to tactical alliances, any more than 'Mein Kampf' prevented .. . Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin from making alliances with their presumed mortal enemies when circumstances warranted," Mr. Ledeen wrote. The journalist's blindness regrettably is shared by many in the CIA, whose dismal record of Middle Eastern forecasts suggest more weight should be given to the facts on the ground and less to glib ideological assumptions. It is within this context one must assess the leak to The Washington Post Tuesday of portions of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran. The portions leaked said analysts didn't think Iran could develop a nuclear bomb for another 10 years. The analysis is preposterous on its face, because we developed an atom bomb from scratch in less than four years, and knowledge about how to build one has since spread widely. The estimate by Israel's Mossad that Iran will have the bomb in two to four years almost certainly is closer to the mark. I'm more interested in the fact of the leak than its contents. It seems a faction within the CIA is again attempting to use the selective leaking of classified material to influence administration policy. "There may be some involved in the report who are frightened that Bush would use anything more imminent as a pretext to bomb," said Henry Sokolski, director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, who told the Christian Science Monitor the CIA's estimates is "absurd." This is a reprise of the uranium in Africa kerfuffle. Joseph Wilson was sent to Niger, at the urging of his wife, Valerie Plame, not to find out if Saddam was trying to buy yellowcake, but to find reasons for claiming he was not. Mr Wilson subsequently lied about what he found in leaks to two journalists and in an op-ed article in the New York Times. (According to the London Telegraph, Mrs. Plame was put on an enforced, unpaid leave of absence last year, which suggests disciplinary action.) But Mr. Ledeen is right that Iranian support for the insurgency in Iraq is old news. I've heard dozens of such reports in the last two years. By highlighting this seizure, is military intelligence trying to prepare public opinion for action against Iran? Stay tuned. Jack Kelly, a syndicated columnist, is a former Marine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh (Pa.) 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