ATF Agents to Probe Iraq Roadside Blasts

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- Civilian U.S. government bomb experts are joining military investigators at the sites of roadside blasts and car bombings in Iraq that continue to bedevil American soldiers and Iraqis, officials said Wednesday.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the nation's premier bomb investigators, have been in Iraq since 2003 to train Iraqis, handle bomb-sniffing dogs and provide limited help in bomb investigations.

An agreement signed by Carl J. Truscott, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Army Brigadier Gen. John Defreitas, allows ATF agents to be on the scene of explosions, examining bombs and their components.
...
Roadside bombs, called improvised explosive devices or IEDs, in military jargon, have been the Iraqi insurgents' main weapon against U.S. troops for more than a year. In January, the Pentagon reported they have been getting larger and more powerful.

ATF agents will not disarm devices or participate in raids, Carroll said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-atf-iraq,0,4211817.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[Mika]

1. ATF agents will not disarm devices or participate in raids?

What is this? A seminar for ATF students?

[Fovea]

3. It's a really bad idea

1. if they need to learn about IED's, why are they already agents?
2. if there is a war on terror, why is a domestic law enforcement agency offshore instead of here fighting it?
3. Why isn't the Army corps of engineers capible of this?

This is just another way Rummy's big ass cheney-up is costing us huge.

[radar]

5. And since they'll be "in-country"

...How about helping do a few other chores around the place?

More warm bodies for the cause; who needs a draft when there are so many gov't agencies here in the states that could send "help"?

[Webster Green]

2. What the fuck are they going to do?

"We have determined that the blast was definitely caused by explosives".

Idiots!

[DemoTex]

4. Remember the 350 tons of missing high explosives? Lost on our watch?

That is almost 3/4-million pounds of HE! KLA-BOOOOOOOOOM! ATF? Give me a break!

[VelvetMonkeyWrench]

6. ATF are a bunch of wankers

I called them up about 10 years ago to report felonious behavior by a licenced gun dealer. The guy was stealing customer guns sent out for repair that were returned to the shop by manufacturers after repairs were complete. He was denying the stuff had ever been returned. I had iron clad proof in the form of UPS delivery confirmations and signatures.

ATF blew me off, wasn't even interested in taking the report.

If they're not interested in busting crooked gun dealers, what are they interested in then?!?!