VZCZCXRO5385
OO RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #2709/01 2801556
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 071556Z OCT 09 -ZDS-
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4995
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002709 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
JUSTICE FOR ODAG: JJONES, CRM: BSWARTZ, ATF: WJHOOVER, 
OPDAT: ANORMAN, ICITAP: TBARTLETT 
STATE PASS TO INL/I, NEA/I 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KJUS IZ KCRM PTER
SUBJECT: AUGUST 19 BOMBINGS DEMONSTRATE NEED FOR INCREASED 
ATF SUPPORT TO GOI 
 
REF: A. 08 BAGHDAD 000387 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  During the past year, Embassy 
Baghdad has seen a dramatic increase in the utilization of 
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives 
(ATF) Attach office with regard to explosives and post- 
blast investigation in support of the Government of Iraq 
(GOI) and in accordance with the principles and areas of 
bilateral cooperation outlined in the Strategic Framework 
Agreement (SFA) between the US Government (USG) 
and GOI.  In the wake of the 19 August bombings of the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Ministry of 
Finance (MoF), the need for additional specialized ATF 
support for the Mission and the GOI has become 
apparent. END SUMMARY 
 
¶2. (U) ATF personnel have been in Iraq in support of the 
US mission since 2003.  In 2008, ATF secured a 
permanent presence at Embassy Baghdad (Ref A).  The 
personnel currently assigned to the office have developed 
and maintained critical relationships with high-level 
Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), US Embassy and Iraq 
Ministry of Interior (MOI) personnel responsible for 
conducting violent crime investigations and training. 
During that time, ATF has mentored and trained MOI 
personnel in post-blast investigation and bombing 
incident response.  As a result of ATF efforts in 
the aftermath of the 19 August bombings, the GOI 
has increased its requests for assistance from 
the Embassy in the area of explosives exploitation 
and post-blast investigation. 
 
¶3. (SBU) With the impending withdrawal of US military 
forces under the Security Agreement (SA), particularly 
MNF-I,s Task Force Troy and Combined Explosives 
eXploitation Cell (CEXC), the Embassy,s ATF Attach 
will assume overall responsibility for all counter- 
Improvised Explosive Qvice (IED) related assistance to 
the GOI.  This assistance includes response coordination 
and training as well as on-site post-blast technical 
guidance and forensic analysis of evidence recovered 
in bombing incidents. 
 
THE AUGUST 19 BOMBINGS 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) In the aftermath of the August 19 bombings of 
the MoF and MoFA, which was the largest massQsualty 
attack post-June 30, the GOI requested USG assistance 
with forensic investigations at the blast sites.  In 
response, ATF coordinated with several GOI Ministries 
and their subordinate directorates, DOD entities and 
USG civilian law enforcement agencies at post.  These 
efforts allowed Post to gain access to the bombing 
scenes and the ability to examine the scenes and 
two other Large Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive 
Devices (LVBIEDs) that were recovered and examined 
by the GOI.  During the USG examination of the bombing 
scenes and LVBIEDs, besides locating key evidence, ATF 
identified several areas of concern with respect to 
the GOI,s coordination of incident response, 
evidence documentation and preservation, and 
collection procedures. 
 
GOI REQUEST/NEED FOR EXPLOSIVES RELATED 
TRAINING 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Throughout the past year several MOI officials 
including Minister of Interior Jawad Al Bolani, Senior 
Deputy Minister Adnan Al Asadi, Deputy Minister Hussein 
Ali Kamal of the National Information and Investigation 
Agency (NIIA), and Major General Ahmed Taha Musawi 
of the MOI Internal Affairs Directorate have made 
requests for specialized ATF training.  In July of this 
year, Senior Deputy Minister Al Asadi invited ATF to 
Qyear, Senior Deputy Minister Al Asadi invited ATF to 
attend a special National Security Council meeting 
that was convened for the purpose of discussing 
coordination of post-blast investigation response. 
 
¶6. (SBU) ATF is currently involved in a partnership with 
the British Embassy and MNF-I,s Task Force Troy to 
develop explosives evidence exploitation capabilities for 
the GOI similar to those of CEXC.  In the early stages of 
development, this project, Explosives eXploitation Iraq 
Transition (EXIT), is designed to mimic the capabilities of 
 
BAGHDAD 00002709  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
CEXC for exploitation of bombing evidence.  At the 
conclusion of the projected two-year EXIT program, the 
GOI will have the ability to independently exploit 
explosives evidence for criminal investigations and 
prosecutions, a capability the GOI does not currently have. 
As the military drawdown occurs and the CEXC mission 
diminishes, it will be more critical for the EXIT 
program to reach its full potential for the GOI to 
have independent explosives exploitation capability. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In a series of meetings with MOI officials 
following the investigations of the August 19 bombings, 
ATF was asked to provide additional post-blast 
investigation training and critique the overall response 
efforts.  These meetings included MOI Senior Deputy 
Minister Al Asadi, Deputy Minister Kamal and Major 
General Taha.  Deputy Minister Kamal was particularly 
receptive to ATF,s guidance with regard to post-blast 
coordination and investigative issues.  In a special multi- 
directorate meeting convened by Deputy Minister Kamal, 
ATF was asked to critique the response efforts and 
provide additional guidance for response to future bombing 
incidents.  INL has agreed to underwrite ATF training 
organized in response to the MOI,s request. 
 
¶8. (SBU) On September 7, the ATF Attach provided a 
briefing for the Deputy Chiefs of Mission at Embassy 
Baghdad regarding the coordination of USG and GOI 
response to the August 19 bombings.  During this briefing, 
the ATF Attach identified several areas of concern and 
made recommendations which included 
conducting/facilitating after-action guidance and 
mentoring, delivery of additional post-blast investigation 
training, command and control of bombing incidents and 
critical incident management for the GOI to develop 
a team approach to handling major bombing incidents. 
ATF has since developed a 100 step explosive investigation 
guide for the MOI to use in developing this team approach, 
and will provide it to the MOI in coordination with the 
Multi-National Security Transition Command,s Iraq 
Training and Advisory Mission (ITAM). 
 
CURRENT ATF MISSION 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Embassy Baghdad,s ATF Attach Office staffing 
for FY2010 includes three special agents; an Attach, 
Deputy Attach and Assistant Attach.  The current ATF 
mission supports a host of duties to include training, 
liaison and advisory efforts.  The ATF Attach is the 
USG lead for coordination of assets in response to 
bombing incidents, weapons investigation and tracing, 
receipt and dissemination of weapons related information, 
and training and education needs in the areas of ATF,s 
expertise.  The ATF Attach is continually assessing 
and reacting to investigative and training needs related 
to firearms identification and trafficking and explosives 
identification and post-blast investigation.  ATF also 
provides assistance to US and GOI law enforcement 
officers as appropriate on topics that are part of 
ATF,s domestic mission.  Additionally, ATF partners 
with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) 
in the Weapons Investigation Cell (WIC), established 
to investigate weapons-related issues.  The WIC works 
jointly with other USG and GOI entities to investigate 
accountability issues related to weapons distributed 
by the USG to the GOI as well as individuals who are 
involved in illegal possession or transfer of such 
items. 
HILL