Boobytraps ≠ a Win

I am sure there are people that have
a bigger understanding of the war than us little guys.
But at my level. it seems so stupid.
--Pfc. Dillon Guillory, 
Babysitting Afghanistan 
___________________

Today Britain recognized the newly united Syrian opposition as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Syrian people and promised it new assistance in the uprising against Bashar al-Assad. (Britain now joins France, and a more moderate European Union.) 

The desperation of Bashar's regime was evident to Ranger in an earlier news story on Syria's recourse to a "modern dirty trick": "salting ammunition supplies of antigovernment fighters with ordnance that explodes inside rebels’ weapons, often wounding and sometimes killing the fighters while destroying many of their hard-found arms." Booby trapping is an act of desperation, as the results are so minimal.

The article also noted "some booby-trapped ammunition may also have entered Syria from Iraq, where during the most recent war the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency secretly passed doctored ammunition to insurgent groups, several American veterans and officials said." (Syrians Place Booby-Trapped Ammunition in Rebels Guns).

Ranger's unit, MACVSOG ("Studies and Observations Group") also planted doctored ammo and munitions in 1970's RVN.  Since SOG used AK-47's, the solution to keep from shooting contaminated ammo was to secure commercial ammo for the AK from LAPUA in Finland (at the time, the only source of commercial ammo.)

Lesson: U.S. troops should never use anything but U.S.-issued firearms and ammunition.

To give the reader some additional inside-the-(cartridge)beltway knowledge:

This article overstates the explosive power of the rigged rifle cartridge.  Ranger doubts the cartridges can be booby-trapped to blow up in a lethal manner.  The rounds will blow a rifle, take out an eye, and maybe take out a shooter now and again, but this would be the exception, not the rule

Placing squib loads in ammo would perform the same function.  The squib load would push a projectile down the barrel to lodge in place.  If the shooter fails to clear the weapon, the next round will blow the bolt -- an easy, cheap and lethal alternative.  Similarly, booby-trapping mortar and RPG rounds would be instantly lethal.  The mortar rounds would eliminate the entire crew and sympathetically set off the rounds near the gun.

The ultimate FB defriending.