CSI: BAGHDAD

This story from USA Today is over a year old, but it didn't get a lot of play.  I thought it might be worth linking to on the chance that a lot of folks may have missed it.

Intelligence teams track evolution of enemy bombs

By Steven Komarow, USA TODAY

SALMAN PAK, Iraq � The engine sitting upright on the tarmac, about 10 yards from the crater, gets the once-over from Sgt. 1st Class Carlos Tyson. It's the largest piece of an Opel sedan that a couple of hours earlier exploded into shreds that tore through nearby cars and people in this enclave southeast of Baghdad.

Over in the roadside dust, some bits of the bomber, including a foot, turn up. "We went to one and we got a hand, so we could fingerprint it," Tyson says. In this case, however, the number on the engine might be the most useful clue.

Tyson, 32, is part of a new team, one of six in Iraq, that Army intelligence has sent to look at roadside and car bombs in a different way. "We try to look at it the way the terrorist looks at it," he says.

The Weapons Intelligence Team is trying to help the military keep up with the constantly changing insurgent tactics and techniques.

The Weapons Intelligence Teams are basically like crime scene investigators, who employ forensic analysis techniques to track the roadside bombers in Iraq.  They can establish patterns and techniques used by various groups and even individuals, the way the police in this country track the M.O.s of criminals. 

The Weapons Intel Teams are an example of the kind of innovation that makes our military the best in the world.

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