REUTERS: Fighting IEDs
"By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Having failed so far to blunt the deadliest threat posed by Iraq's insurgency, the Pentagon said on Thursday it planned to expand its effort to find better ways to defend against the roadside bombs used by rebels to kill and maim U.S. troops.
The Pentagon is considering putting a more senior officer in charge of a task force set up last year to deal with the so-called improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, often planted by insurgents on roads to attack U.S. vehicles, officials said. The Pentagon also intends to add more people to the effort.
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the military's Joint Staff, told a briefing that instead of the one-star Army general who heads the group, the Pentagon may put a three-star officer with more clout in charge.
"It's the only tool the enemy really has left in order to be able to take us on and cause casualties," Conway said of the IEDs. "And when we defeat that one method, it's over."
IEDs are the leading cause of death and injury for U.S. troops in Iraq. The Pentagon said more than half of all U.S. casualties stem from these homemade bombs, often buried along a roadside or hidden inside debris or even animal carcasses and usually detonated by remote control or with a timer device.
Insurgents have vexed U.S. forces with their ability to adapt technologies and to build increasingly powerful devices. For example, in one of the rebels' deadliest attacks on U.S. forces, 14 Marines died on August 3 south of Haditha in western Iraq when their Amphibious Assault Vehicle was blown up with a roadside bomb fashioned from three land mines.
October was the fourth deadliest month of the war for U.S. forces, with 96 troops killed. Of those, at least 57 were killed by IEDs. In addition, blast wounds from IEDs have been responsible for many of limb amputations for troops who survived attacks.
About 2,030 U.S. troops have been killed since the war began in March 2003, with nearly 15,500 more wounded.
The U.S. Army first created a task force to counter the IED threat in October 2003 in the early months of the insurgency that rose up after the U.S.-led invasion ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
At the request of Gen. John Abizaid, top U.S. commander in the region, the Pentagon in July 2004 formed an IED task force encompassing all military branches. It is headed by Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel and has a staff of about 140. Officials did not state how many more people would be assigned to the task force.
Some military officers have privately expressed frustration that the IED threat has not been better quelled
"There's never going to be a quick fix. There's no silver bullet," said a defense official who asked not to be named. "There's never going to be a single piece of technology that takes care of the IED problem when we face an adaptive enemy who looks at what he does and what works and looks at what we do in response and adjusts accordingly."
The U.S. military has fielded jamming devices to counter radio-controlled IEDs and a small number of bomb-detecting robots have been deployed, officials said. The officials said the percentage of effective IED attacks has fallen, but the number of attacks has risen, thus increasing the number of U.S. casualties.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the IED task force has almost $1.5 billion in funding this year alone. Di Rita said it also would be appropriate to expand the reach of the task force into other parts of the U.S. government that might be able to supply answers."
We are hopeful answers come soon.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Having failed so far to blunt the deadliest threat posed by Iraq's insurgency, the Pentagon said on Thursday it planned to expand its effort to find better ways to defend against the roadside bombs used by rebels to kill and maim U.S. troops.
The Pentagon is considering putting a more senior officer in charge of a task force set up last year to deal with the so-called improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, often planted by insurgents on roads to attack U.S. vehicles, officials said. The Pentagon also intends to add more people to the effort.
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the military's Joint Staff, told a briefing that instead of the one-star Army general who heads the group, the Pentagon may put a three-star officer with more clout in charge.
"It's the only tool the enemy really has left in order to be able to take us on and cause casualties," Conway said of the IEDs. "And when we defeat that one method, it's over."
IEDs are the leading cause of death and injury for U.S. troops in Iraq. The Pentagon said more than half of all U.S. casualties stem from these homemade bombs, often buried along a roadside or hidden inside debris or even animal carcasses and usually detonated by remote control or with a timer device.
Insurgents have vexed U.S. forces with their ability to adapt technologies and to build increasingly powerful devices. For example, in one of the rebels' deadliest attacks on U.S. forces, 14 Marines died on August 3 south of Haditha in western Iraq when their Amphibious Assault Vehicle was blown up with a roadside bomb fashioned from three land mines.
October was the fourth deadliest month of the war for U.S. forces, with 96 troops killed. Of those, at least 57 were killed by IEDs. In addition, blast wounds from IEDs have been responsible for many of limb amputations for troops who survived attacks.
About 2,030 U.S. troops have been killed since the war began in March 2003, with nearly 15,500 more wounded.
The U.S. Army first created a task force to counter the IED threat in October 2003 in the early months of the insurgency that rose up after the U.S.-led invasion ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
At the request of Gen. John Abizaid, top U.S. commander in the region, the Pentagon in July 2004 formed an IED task force encompassing all military branches. It is headed by Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel and has a staff of about 140. Officials did not state how many more people would be assigned to the task force.
Some military officers have privately expressed frustration that the IED threat has not been better quelled
"There's never going to be a quick fix. There's no silver bullet," said a defense official who asked not to be named. "There's never going to be a single piece of technology that takes care of the IED problem when we face an adaptive enemy who looks at what he does and what works and looks at what we do in response and adjusts accordingly."
The U.S. military has fielded jamming devices to counter radio-controlled IEDs and a small number of bomb-detecting robots have been deployed, officials said. The officials said the percentage of effective IED attacks has fallen, but the number of attacks has risen, thus increasing the number of U.S. casualties.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the IED task force has almost $1.5 billion in funding this year alone. Di Rita said it also would be appropriate to expand the reach of the task force into other parts of the U.S. government that might be able to supply answers."
We are hopeful answers come soon.
posted by matua105 at 5:16 PM
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