Captain Nawa Salah Ahmed is part of the Iraqi Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit, referred to by its English acronym, E.O.D., and known to Americans as “the Hurt Locker guys.”
While the Americans in The Hurt Locker relied on a sophisticated array of equipment and protection—the suits with magazine pouches and drop-leg holsters; the state-of-the-art detection devices—the Kirkuk bomb squad’s weapon of choice is the Dragunov sniper rifle. It was designed in Soviet Russia and has a distinctive D-shaped stock, made of wood. After securing the area around a suspected bomb, the officers will open fire with the Dragunov. With any luck, the damage from the rounds will reveal what type of device they are dealing with. If the detonator is exposed, they may continue firing to dislodge or destroy it. Prior success as a sniper is a good predictor of success in this unit.
(Photo: A US soldier of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Special Unit stacks bombs, mortars and shells, part of a big cache found in the countryside of the northern Iraqi city of Hawijah, 27 December 2005. By Filippo Monteforte MONTEFORTE /AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 
