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![]() U.S. TURNS TO ISRAEL FOR IED SOLUTIONS ![]() |
TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The United States has turned
to Israel for technology and expertise to protect American troops in Iraq
from improvised explosive devices.
But the Bush administration was said to have limited this cooperation with Israel to avoid an Arab backlash.
Israeli sources said the military has supplied technology and components for development of IED solutions to the U.S. Army. They said the U.S. requests have increased in recent weeks in wake of an assessment that the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah supplied IED technology to Sunni insurgents.
"More than anybody else, we know Hizbullah tactics and technology," a military source said. "This has become the key to helping the U.S. troops in Iraq.
The U.S. help has been requested by Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel, the director of a Defense Department joint task force to fight IEDs. The sources said Votel has been in steady contact with Israeli commanders as well as weapons researchers. NOTE: The above is not the full item. |
December 8, 2005
The two Illinois Marines who died last week in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, were not on a foot patrol, as previously reported, but were in an abandoned flour mill when they were killed by an explosion, according to a written statement from the Marines.
The two Illinois men were among 10 Marines from Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, killed in the explosion Dec. 1. The troops used the mill as a temporary patrol base.
Lance Cpl. Adam W. Kaiser of Naperville, and Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Patten of Downstate Byron, both 19, died.
The statement said the Marines had gathered in the mill for a promotion ceremony. The military suspects one of the Marines triggered a booby trap.
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AP