Got a tip for Noah?
SEND IT!
(Guaranteed Confidential)
Subscribe

Subscribe via RSS

Archives by Date
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006

See all Archives
Archives by Category
'Canes
Ammo and Munitions
Armor
Axe in Iraq (and Elsewhere)
Bizarro
Blimps
Blog Bidness
Bomb Squad
Cammo Green
Chem-Bio
Cloak and Dagger
Comms
Cops and Robbers
Data Diving
Dissent Tech
Drones
Eat My Dust
Eye on China
FCS Watch
FOS Files
Gadgets and Gear
Ground Vehicles
Guns
Homeland Security
Info War
Iraq Diary
Lasers and Ray Guns
Less-lethal
Logistics
Los Alamos and Labs
Medic!
Mercs
Missiles
Money Money Money
Net-Centric
Nukes
Planes, Copters, Blimps
Politricks
Rapid Fire
Raptor Watch
Red Team
Retro-Futuro
Roll Your Own
Sabra Tech
Ships and Subs
Space
Strategery
Terror Tech
The Deadlies
Those Nutty Norks
Training and Sims
War Update
You can run...

See all Archives
Related Links
News and Intel
Military.com News
Aviation Week
Natl Defense Mag
Strategy Page
Global Security Newswire
Soldiers for the Truth
Security News
Defense Review
Fed Comp Week

Security Sources
GlobalSecurity.Org
Fed Am Sci
CSIS
Ctr for Defense Info
Defense & Natl Interest
Instit for Sci & Intl Secy
Secrecy News
POGO
Cryptome
The Memory Hole
Natl Security Archive

Geeks and Mad Scientists
Slashdot
Wired News
Security Focus
The Register
Gizmodo
Geek Press
Robots.Net
Cosmic Log
Space Daily
New Scientist
TechCentralStation
Engadget
Space.Com
Technology Review
Gyre
Near Near Future
Fed Dev Blog

Bloggers and Buddies
Phil Carter
Global Guerillas
Jeffrey Lewis
Milblogging
OPFOR
Laura Rozen
Larisa Alexandrovna
Juan Cole
Ryan Singel
Josh Marshall
Cursor
Boing Boing
InstaPundit
Winds of Change
Tapped
TalkLeft
Brad DeLong
Mountain Runner
Gene Healy
Clive Thompson
Greg Djerejian
Jeff Quinton
Workbench
Electrolite
Jim Henley
War in Context
Kathryn Cramer
Wash Park Prophet
Blogs of War
Tom Shachtman

Official Dispatches
DARPA
AF Research Lab
Marine War Lab
Soldier Systems Ctr
Naval Research
Army Research Lab
UK Def Sci Lab
NASA News
DoJ Cybercrime

Military Network
Military Benefits
Veteran Employment
GI Bill Express
Personnel Locator
Free ASVAB
The Few
Fred's Place
Army Insider
Navy Insider
Air Force Insider
Marine Corps Insider
Coast Guard Insider



Edited by Noah Shachtman | Contact

I.R.A. Bombs in Iraq

Here's the ultimate example of open source warfare: "Eight British soldiers killed during ambushes in Iraq were the victims of a highly sophisticated bomb first used by the IRA," according to The Independent.

bomb_crowd.jpgThe soldiers, who were targeted by insurgents as they travelled through the country, died after being attacked with bombs triggered by infra-red beams...

According to security sources, the technology for the bombs used in the attacks, which were developed using technology from photographic flash units, was employed by the IRA some 15 years ago after Irish terrorists were given advice by British agents. "We are seeing technology in Iraq today that it took the IRA 20 years to develop," said a military intelligence officer with experience in Northern Ireland...

The former agent added: "The photographic flashgun unit was replaced with infra-red and then coded infra-red, but basically they were variations of the same device. The technology came from the security forces, but the IRA always shared its equipment and expertise with Farc guerrillas in Colombia, the Basque separatists, ETA and Palestinian groups. There is no doubt in my mind that the technology used to kill our troops in Basra is the same British technology from a decade ago."

(Big ups: Sploid)

THERE'S MORE: Be sure to check out Chris Allbritton's on-the-ground report on Iraq's election day.

Latest Comments

An electromagnetic scanner covering the whole earth?

Is this possible... I think you are talking about something similar to those systems that are going to be introduced in Airports and others security checks.

But the whole Earth...

Posted by: giovanni at October 19, 2005 11:23 AM


radars will help is get a 3d picture of the entire globe such as (underground explosives, weapons caches, and some guy sneaking a RPG in the back of his car).

maybe not "radar" or "xray" but some form of electromagnetic scanner. I think 'radar' only works in a certain part of the electromagnetic spectrum(the radio spectrum).

When i said radar I meant an electromagnetic scanner because that is what a radar and xray machine is.

Posted by: jtw at October 18, 2005 2:25 AM


We are supporting a part of the population while another part does not want us in any way and any form. In this sense WE ARE NOT FACING any kind of INSURGENT but we are on ONE SIDE OF A CIVIL WAR that we have unleashed.

So this is quiet a different picture from what is official...

Is easy to understand that no technology can help us distinguish dangerous guerrilla fighters from civils as the fighters we are facing are a part of the civil society. I do not believe that radars will help us... This kind of confrontation is a nightmare of any classic army and a source of immense innocent civil casualties in the population.

We are facing a major error in the evaluation of the civil political reaction to the US invasion.

You can look back at any civil war or liberation war to see similarities. I suggest you this movie (Maybe you have already seen it):

http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=249

Posted by: giovanni at October 18, 2005 1:56 AM


Yeah but this is an entire country. And a fairly large population is putting up resistance. And im pretty sure they have been setting off IED's from day 1.

And with no ground penetrating radar and radar that can see inside buildings, there is no way we have searched and disarmed iraq entirely yet to be blaming other countries for every IED that goes off, especially without proof.

Just my opinion. We have killed enough civilians already I dont want to see it happen to other countries. We know how the US Military loves dropping 1000 pound bombs on neighborhoods, heck we even drop them on ourselves.

We should pull back, defend the borders and work on our technology because we are not ready to be fighting these "freedom and anti terrorist campaigns". If we can keep the terrorists out, they probably dont have the means to attack us from the outside. So to me thats better then fighting a war where women and children die.

100,000 estimated dead Iraqi Military, Terrorists , and Insurgents.

25,000+ estimated dead Iraqi CIVILIANS including WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

THAT IS NOT A GOOD RATIO. That is murder by the tens of thousands by our own Military! those numbers are the word through the grapevine.

I am disgusted by that. http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

Posted by: jtw at October 18, 2005 12:11 AM


I can't really understand why using commonly available electronics could be compared again to Open Source. I see just an adaptation of tactics and consequent smarter use of technology.

In Somalia RPGs where first used to shot down Blackhawks. Again in Iraq there were similar cases. Can we call this OPEN-SOURCE warfare or just a kind of adaptation that you se in ANY war? Can we consider OPEN SOURCE the shared experiences by US soldiers building on the field protections for their HMMWVs?

Still seams to me that we are loosing time while we are loosing the big picture.

Posted by: giovanni at October 17, 2005 11:51 PM


» View All 9 Comments

» Post a Comment