Iraqi troops demonstrate unusual IED clearing method
Unschooled in advanced techniques, soldiers play kick the can; American observers horrified; worries grow about ability of Iraqi army to manage on its own
There’s dumb, and then there’s really dumb. In the latter category belongs the Iraqi bomb squad profiled in a recent National Public Radio report, which took on the responsibility to defusing a roadside IED in the presence of American military officials. Their technique, witnessed by U.S. Army Sgt. Ryan Lord, did not exactly meet expected standards and offers a minor example of why many say the Iraqi military is not yet ready to stand on its own:
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“The Iraqi police start shooting at the potential bomb, hoping to set it off. But to no avail. The convoy continues to sit and wait. An hour passes. As Sgt. Lord watches, the Iraqi police move closer to the suspected bomb. The first IED turns out to be a fake. To the surprise of the American soldiers, this emboldens the Iraqi police, who are now focusing on the second suspected bomb.
“Oh, he kicked it,” says an American soldier watching. “The second one must have been safe,” Lord says, “because they went over to it, kicked it over, and then threw it across the road.” An hour and a half after first stopping, the convoy moves on.
-read more in this NPR report
