Christian Science Monitor January 01, 2007
U.S. meets foe it can't defeat
GI deaths hit 3,000 and major cause is increasingly deadly roadside bombs
By Brad Knickerbocker
The number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq reached 3,000 on Sunday, with more of them coming from improvised explosive devices -- IEDs -- than any other cause.
The danger of IEDs, also referred to as roadside bombs, has bedeviled Pentagon war planners for months.
They've responded with a task force headed by a retired general, $6.7 billion in research and development, new high-tech equipment and vehicles, and intelligence efforts to get inside the decisionmaking of the insurgency.
IEDs are ''the enemy's most effective weapon,'' Army Gen. John Abizaid said months ago. ''They are the perfect asymmetric weapon -- cheap, effective, and anonymous.''
Thousand attacks monthly
The death of the 3,000th GI, a Texas soldier, was mourned by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as a ''tragic milestone.''
Deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said President Bush ''will ensure their sacrifice was not made in vain.''
On the final day of a bloody year, Saddam Hussein, the former dictator executed the day before, was buried in the town where he was born. Bombers and assassins appeared to have taken the day off. Police reported finding 12 bodies dumped in Baghdad as well as 12 other violent deaths nationwide, both relatively low numbers.
Last year, 2006, saw a huge increase in IED attacks, which now top 1,000 a month, four times the rate in 2004.
'Poor man's cruise missile'
Insurgents have become more sophisticated in their bombmaking, placement, and means of detonation.
Since the beginning of the war in March 2003, IEDs have accounted for about 45 percent of all U.S. fatalities from hostile causes. That percentage is increasing. Of 100 recent hostile fatalities, IEDs caused 67. December saw the highest number of Americans killed overall in Iraq in two years.
''Buried explosives are easy to plant and hard to find,'' says military analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank. ''They can be built and detonated using a range of readily available items, making them an attractive tool.''
The IED problem extends beyond Iraq. IED attacks in Afghanistan doubled from 2005 to 2006. They are, as Army Gen. Richard Cody called them, ''the poor man's cruise missile.''
IEDs are not a new phenomenon in war. But the scale of their use in Iraq is unique.
''Perversely, the IED problem is a result of the difficulty the enemy has in attacking American troops by other means,'' says John Pike, head of a military news and policy Web site, GlobalSecurity.org.
The U.S. military is in the midst of a big push to defend against the roadside bombs, spending more than $3 billion this year on the effort. This includes new ways to jam remote-control devices used to detonate IEDs and robots to disarm or blow them up without hurting anybody.
But radio frequency jamming is difficult because it can interfere with coalition communications systems such as those used to operate aerial drones. And soldiers have to find roadside bombs before they can disable or destroy them.
'Cougar' and 'Buffalo' fans
From the infantryman's point of view, the most important things coming to the troops are fire-resistant uniforms, heavier body armor, and tougher vehicles to replace the vulnerable Humvees.
Many soldiers, and their parents, have written fan letters about the new ''Cougar'' and ''Buffalo'' vehicles -- ''Humvees on steroids,'' they've been called.
''I have seen these things take a hit from an IED and keep driving without a problem,'' Air Force Staff Sgt. J. Adam Burke wrote to Force Protection Inc., the company that produces the vehicles. But so far only about 300 are in the combat zone.
© Copyright 2007, Christian Science Monitor, with AP contributing
