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| Terror Networks |
| Strategypage: What Failed In Iraq, Fails in Afghanistan |
| 2009-02-26 |
| February 23, 2009: The use of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device, a roadside, or suicide car bomb) in Iraq has moved to Afghanistan. So have the techniques U.S. troops developed to deal with these devices. The U.S. mobilized a multi-billion dollar effort to deal with IEDs, and that paid off. New technology (jammers, robots), tactics (predictive analysis and such), equipment (better armor for vehicles and troops) and a lot of determination did the job. In 2006, some five IEDs to cause one coalition casualty (11 percent fatal). A year later, it took four IEDs to cause one casualty (8 percent fatal) and by 2008 it took nine IEDs per casualty (12 percent fatal). The important thing was avoiding, detecting or defeating IEDs. In 2006, only 8 percent of IEDs put out there caused casualties. In 2007, it was nine percent. In 2008, it was less than five percent. The main objective of IEDs was to kill coalition troops, and at that, they were very ineffective. In 2006, you had use 48 to kill one soldier. In 2007, you needed 49 and by 2008, you needed 79. IEDs are doing worse in Afghanistan, In Afghanistan, the enemy starts off at a disadvantage, because they don't have the expertise or the resources of the Iraqi IED specialists. In Iraq, the bombs were built and placed by one of several dozen independent gangs, each containing smaller groups of people with different skills. At the head of each gang was a guy called the money man. That tells you something about how all this works. Nearly all the people involved with IED gangs were Sunni Arabs, and most of them once worked for Saddam. The gangs hired themselves out to terrorist groups (some of them al Qaeda affiliated), but mainly to Baath Party or Sunni Arab groups that believed the Sunni Arabs should be running the country. You got the money, these gangs got the bombs. The money man, naturally, called the shots. He hired, individually or as groups, the other specialists. These included scouts (who found the most effective locations to put the bombs), the bomb makers, the emplacers (who placed the bomb) and the trigger team, that actually set the bomb off, and often included an ambush team, to attack the damaged vehicles with AK-47s and RPGs. The trigger team also usually included a guy with a video camera, who recorded the operation. Attacks that fail, are also recorded, for later examination for things that could be improved. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #1 See also IRANIAN.WS > US NAVY SEES NO SIGN YET OF ANY NEW IRAN NAVAL BASES [under construx in eastern Hormuz]??? Also, TOPIX/PAYVAND > THE UNTHINKABLE HAS OCCURRED: US NOW NEEDS IRAN'S HELP TO END AFGHAN MILITANCY. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-02-26 00:38 |