'The Bad Guys Are Getting Smarter'

With Billions More Dollars, U.S. Military Struggles To 'Defeat' Iraq's IEDs

(AP)  The Humvee driver, in his final moments, didn't know what hit him. Neither did the U.S. Army.

When a makeshift roadway bomb killed Spc. Joel Bertoldie in Fallujah four years ago, it was the opening salvo in what has grown — from Baghdad's deadly streets to North Carolina's "IED Expo" — into a multibillion-dollar challenge for a U.S. military no more prepared for it than was the young soldier from Missouri.

New statistics show that improvised explosive devices, more than ever, are becoming the Iraqi resistance's weapon of choice, claiming a growing share of American lives as the Pentagon struggles to contain the threat through a widening — and expensive — array of technology.

The people dealing with the mayhem attest to it.

"The bad guys are getting smarter, using larger explosions and better explosions," said Capt. Bruce Wheeler, an Army medical officer at the U.S. military hospital at Balad Air Base, north of Baghdad. "Business is up for us. We're seeing a lot of big stuff" — severe injuries — "come through."

In the May-July period this year, the number of U.S. military deaths from IEDs soared to 203, accounting for 66 percent of all U.S. fatalities, according to the authoritative Web site icasualties.org, which tracks military casualties in Iraq.

Those numbers have climbed steadily from the same three-month period in 2004, when 54 Americans were killed by IEDs, 31 percent of total fatalities.

Since Bertoldie's death in July 2003, the first recorded by icasualties.org as IED-caused, at least 1,509 Americans have been killed in Iraq by the makeshift roadside bombs, out of a total 3,707 fatalities.

The daily number of IED attacks has increased six-fold since 2003, the Pentagon says. On one day in May, 101 of the 139 anti-U.S. attacks involved IEDs.

The strategists before the 2003 invasion would have been surprised.

"The ground force in Iraq had not foreseen this threat in the initial planning for Operation Iraqi Freedom," a recent study at the U.S. Joint Forces Staff College found. In fact, the U.S. invasion force's failure to secure Iraq's ammunition dumps in 2003 left tons of bomb ingredients available to insurgents.

The Pentagon has sought to recover via a crash program — the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO — that by next year is expected to have spent some $13 billion on detectors and robots to defuse bombs, vehicle armor, training and other means to "defeat" the homemade weapons.

That sum is comparable, in inflation-adjusted dollars, to what the U.S. spent building the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, based on figures compiled by Washington's Brookings Institution. Some in Congress complain the money's accomplishing little.

"We don't mind spending money if it's saving soldiers' lives," said Rep. James Moran, D-Va., a member of the House Appropriations Committee. "But we haven't seen that it has saved a lot of lives yet, and it's been up and running for three years," growing from a task force of a dozen to an agency with an authorized staff of 358.

Frustrated lawmakers have turned to micromanaging the effort, stipulating in budget language, for example, that by Nov. 1 all U.S. vehicles on Iraqi roads be protected by radio jammers blocking signals that detonate insurgent bombs. They've also pressed to speed delivery of thousands of "MRAPs," $1-million-apiece troop carriers whose V-shaped undercarriages are designed to deflect the blast of IEDs.

[v_1618]

IT''S A SHAME THE MEDIA IS PRESSING THIS STATEMENTS . FROM A FASCIST REGIME. IN FAVOR OF THE REAL BAD GUYS...

[patriotic9]

Go to

www.memri.org

click on Islamist websites monitor project

go to

Islamist website monitor #17

click on the video link under the heading of

"Islamist video shows Bombings in Iraq"

According to Pentagon, there are One thousand attacks per week against our troops in Iraq which means more then One hundred and Fourty attacks per day. If we assume that only one soldier per attack gets killed by an UNSEEN ENEMY who is using sophisticated IEDs, the number of soldiers dying in Iraq is more then One hundred and fourty per day, one thousand per week and four thousands per month.

If somebody thinks that our government is not hiding the truth, check out how many attacks out of those more then One hundred and fourty attacks were reported in the news today.


Bush''s policies have hurt United States big time. It seems like next terrorist attack is planned at the time when we''ll be Militarily and Finanacially bankrupt in Iraq.

[cfin5]

I think it''s about time to play the same game the Syrians and Iranians want to play. For every IED detonation, "up''em" with a tomahawk sent to "special targets" in Damascus and Tehran. Let them decide the timing of our pulling the trigger on those birdies.

[mo005]

j-whitman: I ment is really a Giulini,,, a cross dresser

[mo005]

j-whitman: Is he really, I hadn''t heard that one.???

[mbcsmith]

Congressional approval ratings are at 18% according to the latest gallup poll, the lowest in the history of gallup polling. The LIBS just don''t get it. Must be Bush''s fault.

[feelfree1]

Re: "The Bad Guys Are Getting Smarter"

And simultaneously, our military leaders appear to be growing ever-dumber.

Get out of Iraq!

www.ipetitions.com/petition/OutNow

[j-whitman]

mcapek -- Think about it,,, General casey says our troops need 18 months at home for training, we need to double the size of our military to get the job done & provide adaquate security.
... In WW2 we had the troop numbers & in post occupation Berlin we still had to mount a bar on the front of jeeps to clear piano wire strung accross the roads..

[feelfree1]

Re: "...the U.S. military says the sophisticated EFPs are more commonly deployed by Shiite groups that, it claims, obtain them from Iran."

Of course, they have not provided any compelling support for this claim, because it is most likely false.

The U.S. military always has to come up with idiotic acronyms to describe things, like "IED''s" and "EFP''s". These are "bombs" to anyone that does not feel compelled to put an idiot spin on it, and they will keep right on killing U.S. soldiers for as long as the disgraceful and illegal invasion of Iraq continues.

We need to seriously start thinking about liquidating petro-terrorist organizations like Exxon-Mobile and BP, along with other war profiteering corporations like Blackwater, Halliburton, and Bechtel, and use the proceeds to help cover the costs of the illegal war, for rebuilding costs, and for reparations.

The financial bill for this shameful debacle is gigantic, and we have only begun to pay it- with borrowed money no less.

The cost in dignity and honor is even greater, and we will probably never be able to repay it. The best that we can do is to offer a sincere apology, and to make sure that those who are most responsible for this catastrophe are brought to trial.

[mcapek]

"IED is just another word for mine. How can the US military be unprepared for land mines?"
...so, are you suggesting that the USA military should clear every road in Iraq every 15 minutes, or so? how long does it take to place one of these devices? its great to hear from you civilian "experts"

[j-whitman]

Hillary is too Cold,,,, Obama is too Hot ---- GOP''''s solution -- Giulini,,, a cross dresser

[jvny-2009]

IED is just another word for mine. How can the US military be unprepared for land mines? The media should not let the Pentagon hide its incompetence by feigned surprise and the disingenuous use of "IED." What would happen if we were to fight a war against an industrial enemy that can produce these land mines in limitless numbers? And if Iran is supplying the mines, what do Bush and Cheney expect to face if we invade Iran?

[j-whitman]

White House continues the GOP''s decades long war against the CIA today,
,, White House Exectutive Summary released today accuses Tennent & CIA of failing to understand the threat of Al Queda.... LOL
.. 70% of our intell budget goes to private contractors ----- Who you gonna believe ????

You can''t hide your lyin eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you''d realize
There ain''t no way to hide your lyin'' eyes

[j-whitman]

In Ronald Reagan''s Letters he wrote about meeting George W. Bush --- "I''ve never met a 40 year old man that never had a job before"

[prinzowhales]

xzavierbrown--Blaming the ''liberal media''... first of all its a statist media. CNN is even now trying to spin away its selection of generals to yap on air--from an approved Pentagon list. In the war against Yugoslavia,
CNN''s control center was full of psyops people to direct coverage. FOX is liberal media? The NEW YORK TIMES?--with Judith Miller the lying, in-bed ''journalist'' and others? Or the HISTORY CHANNEL, which just did a hit piece on Alex Jones. They gain some credibility by covering the ancient past and then use that credibility to smear and lie--Another good reason to do away with cable and turn off the TV.

[j-whitman]

gkc99 --- Salt isn''t good for you

[prinzowhales]

The insurgents are getting better?--Its called a learning curve. They are not only getting better--thanks in great part for the talent that Viceroy Bremer provided any prospective insurgency by firing the Iraqi Army--he is probably reponsible for killing and wounding more Americans in this conflict than any of the insurgent leaders by that single act.

Not only are they getting better--they are getting more organized...their intelligence is getting better...Look at the Green Zone--General Odeirno probably has to go to Haifa Street just to get a moments peace.

Not only are the freedom fighters increasing their capabilities, they have infiltrated the military and the police and causing casualties among our men.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18212.htm

Remember the uniformed mass attacks on the Oil ministry that kidnapped several people? The infiltration of the US base that left several Americans dead? When even your Quislings are turning on you, you should know it is time to pack your bags. Iraqis want us out of Iraq. Period. End of Story.

[j-whitman]

Funny,,, The Petreaus report is being written by the White House,,, Will be delivered to Congress on 9/11 ---

"Oh no it has nothing to do with 9/11, we are observing Roshashana" says the White House....

[gkc99]

the insugency has the best intelligence agency in the world..surpassing the CIA, NSA, FBI and Homeland SEcurity..its called THE LIBERAL MEDIA.
Posted by xzavierbrown

The usual loser neocon whine--"they wouldn''t let us win"--it must be so discouraging to see the "world''s only superpower" get their a$$es kicked. But the Iraqis have used no weapon that is not 50 years old or more--shaped charges are old hat, TNT is old hat, booby traps are old hat--nothing to divulge there, xavier!

The bottom line is, you can''t bully an entire population into submission forever. Can''t do it!

Read "Salt of the Earth".

[klifton2-2009]

It is an indictment against the US Military capability and the self-proclaimed "greatest military power on earth." The crux of the matter is, the US cannot win a war, or any war for that matter, when it is perceived as an invader, which is what it is in Iraq. It is a given right for those who are occupied to fight the the occupier. As long as the US is fighting a conventional war, my money is on Uncle Sam to win. Otherwise, history tell us that the US will not and cannot win. Come to think of it, the whites have never won a single war against non-whites. Win some battles, yes! Winning the war in the long term, nah! So much for superiority. It is an illusion buttressed by western propaganda.