A convoy of troop trucks and Humvee patrol vehicles speed for safety across an arid stretch of Iraq under a hot sun, wind whipping past their windows.Then BANG. A plume of black smoke and arid earth. Trucks grind to a halt and Marines open fire with their rifles. From TNT to WMD, the history of modern warfare is written in bland acronyms that barely hint of its horrors; the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq has offered the language a new one — IED. The Improvised Explosive Device, or makeshift roadside bomb, is probably the biggest single killer of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Though far from new in concept nor even as a piece of military jargon, the IED has taken on new significance. If anything might sap the public’s will to keep U.S. troops in Iraq, it could be these primitive contraptions, which kill or wound dozens each week — relative pinpricks but which ramp up the cost of keeping a huge, high-tech army supplied and mobile. “It’s a classic insurgent tactic. Bleed us and live to fight another day,” said Maj. Clint Nussberger, intelligence officer for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), which polices the area of central Iraq immediately south of Baghdad. Full Story
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