#More Good News From Iraq

Roadside bombs decline in Iraq

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-06-22-ieds_N.htm

Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?By Tom Vanden
Brook, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Roadside bomb attacks and fatalities in Iraq are down by
almost 90% over the last year, according to Pentagon records and
interviews with military leaders.

In May, 11 U.S. troops were killed by blasts from improvised explosive
devices (IEDs) compared with 92 in May 2007, records show. That's an
88% decrease.

Military leaders cite several factors for the drop in attacks and
deaths. They include:

• New vehicles. Almost 7,000 heavily armored Mine Resistant Ambush
Protected (MRAP) vehicles have been rushed to Iraq in the last year.
"They've taken hits, many, many hits that would have killed soldiers
and marines in uparmored Humvees," Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a recent interview.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates made obtaining at least 15,000 MRAPs
his top priority last year.

• Iraqi assistance. Ad hoc local security forces, known as the Sons of
Iraq, have provided on-the-ground intelligence to U.S. forces looking
for IEDs, said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commanded a division in
Baghdad from February 2007 until May.

Each member of the security forces earns about $8 per day. Lynch has
hired about 36,000 of them to man checkpoints and provide intelligence
on the insurgency. He said about 60% had been insurgents.

• Improved surveillance. Lynch said his troops used new security
cameras that could see bomb builders up to 5 miles away. "If they're
out there planting an IED, we can go whack them before they finish,"
he said.

Also, Lynch said, the 14-ton MRAPs have forced insurgents to build
bigger bombs to knock out the vehicles. Those bombs take more time to
build and hide, which gives U.S. forces a better chance of catching
the insurgents in the act and then attacking them.

Among the new U.S. tactics, paying the Sons of Iraq is a particularly
good investment, said Dakota Wood, a military analyst at the Center
for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Whether the money is viewed
as "buying off" insurgents is less important than the lull in violence
it creates, Wood said. It's almost impossible to rebuild
infrastructure, foster commerce and set up elections when streets are
unsafe, he said. "Any effort that creates a window of opportunity in
which other stabilization actions can take root is a good thing."

Iraqi insurgents, however, are changing their tactics. During a visit
to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms,
Calif., Marines showed Mullen the latest trend in IEDs: Fake curbs
fashioned from metal, filled with ball bearings and explosives.
Virtually indistinguishable from concrete rubble, the new bombs
require a trained eye to spot.

Insurgents are also using pressure-detonated IEDs, including those
with 15 pounds of explosives that blow the tires off an MRAP and allow
insurgents to attack it, Mullen said.

"The whole issue of IEDs — vehicle borne, suicide, you name it — is
going to be the weapon of choice and I think it's going to be around a
long, long time," he said.
[ Auf dieses Posting antworten ]