Bombs, not bullets and mortars, killing more U.S. troops in Iraq

[brettdale]

http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=61504&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0


Bombs, not bullets and mortars, killing more U.S. troops in Iraq


"I've lost eight buddies in a week," Army Spc. William "Shane" Parham, a sheriff's deputy from Walton County, Ga., serving in a Baghdad-based unit, told an embedded reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Nobody trained us to get blown up like this."

Although the number of vehicle and roadside bombings is decreasing, U.S. commanders warn they are rising in explosive power and sophistication -- enough for the Pentagon to establish an IED Task Force.

The number of combat deaths blamed on IEDs jumped from about 26 percent in 2004 to 51 percent as of early June 2005, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"You're watching the insurgents develop more sophisticated methods of attack, and more sophisticated IEDs," said Anthony Cordesman of the center. "They're using shaped charges and anti-tank mines stacked together. They're using 500-pound bombs that can destroy any armored vehicle. They're using these so-called swarming attacks, firing several RPG rounds at one lightly armored vehicle."

[TomClash]

1. So their tactics are improving

And from what I can glean from the most recent reports, it also appears the attacks on civilian targets have begun to subside. The most recent attacks appear to be almost exclusively on US forces and Iraqi police and soldiers. Even the collateral damage seems to have abated. That means greater discipline and better coordination between the military and political levels in the insurgency.

[DeaconBlues]

2. the insurgents are smart

why go up against the best trained and best equipped army in the world with an AK47 when you go blow up the enemy from a distance and remain alive for another day. Asymmetrical warfare is a bitch.