March 7, 2005
Cell-phone technology an explosive tool for insurgents
The efficiency of cell-phone technology in rebuilding Iraq has a drawback in that insurgents are using the hand-held devices to orchestrate attacks and set off roadside bombs, reports the The Washington Times, in an interesting article on cell phones used to remotely set off improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the roadside devices that have killed scores of U.S. troops.
I hope this newspaper will forgive me for posting their article so extensively, but in everything I have ever read about cell phones detonating bombs, this is the first time I have read anything so detailed about how it's done, how sophisticated the technology has become and what a huge problem it is in Iraq.
"Charles Krohn, an Army official in Baghdad from 2003 to 2004, said the insurgents developed an ingenious way to thwart eavesdropping as they set up meetings and attacks.
"They would use more than one phone to send a message," said Mr. Krohn, a visiting professor at the University of Michigan. "They would deliver part of the message on one number and call another number to deliver another part of the message. So if someone was listening, they would only get part of the message.
Virtually all spoken electronic communication in the country is done via cell or satellite phones, not land lines. The constant chatter does give the National Security Agency and specialized commando units opportunities to intercept conversations.
Sources said insurgents have the know-how to make one cell phone communicate with a second phone whose components are built into the bomb's triggering mechanism. "We don't quite know how to combat that," the defense source said.
U.S. troops seized a terrorist-produced video that shows insurgents in a car that passes an Army convoy going in the opposite direction, said a Marine officer who fought in the notorious Al Anbar Province west of Baghdad. When the convoy reached a certain point, the men in the vehicle can be seen using a cell phone to detonate a hidden IED.
Insurgents use other types of phones. In April, near the insurgent-heavy town of Latifiyah, an Army convoy was devastated by a series of IEDs. An investigation showed that bombs were ignited by satellite phones activated by another satellite phone, the Marine officer said.
There are days when the U.S. command decides for security reasons to shut down cell-phone connections in some sectors. Other times they jam it for hours to prevent terrorists from coordinating attacks via the airways.
The importance of cell phones to the insurgents was illustrated when Marines and Army troops captured the terrorist-infested city of Fallujah in November.
Marines discovered a network of makeshift IED factories and among the parts were cell phones and hand-held radios. Insurgents made the bombs, then smuggled them out for use in vehicles or as roadside explosives.
Defense sources said the technology has helped terrorists build better bombs. In fact, the insurgents have gotten so skilled that their expertise is being exported to Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are fighting al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists."
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