US Parts End Up in Insurgents' Bombs in Iraq

A year ago American technology started turning up in roadside bombs used to attack US troops in Iraq, the New York Times reports, and the rogue computer circuits were tracked to the United Arab Emirates. There investigators found the UAE's controls so lax that sensitive technology imported from the US was being exported to Iran, eventually landing in the hands of Iraqi insurgents.

Despite a diplomatic brouhaha and UAE promises to tighten security, the Times says, it's still happening. A law was passed to give the government more authority over exports, and there have been a few arrests, but one expert says, “I still don’t see any real change in what the UAE is doing.” Says an Iranian businessman in Dubai: “If someone wants to move something—get it to Iran—it is easy to be done." (More roadside bomb stories.)