August 14,
2008: Al Qaeda has been trying a new
tactic in Iraq and Afghanistan, which involves planting numerous roadside bombs
and mines on the roads leading to a village they had been using as a base. The
buildings in the village were filled with trip-wire activated bombs. The idea
behind this is to slow down approaching troops, and cause some casualties to
EOD (explosives ordnance disposal) technicians sent in to disarm all the bombs.
This hasn't
worked, because the Americans simply use artillery, tank fire or, most of the
time, bombs, to tear up place, detonating or destroying all those explosive
devices quickly. American troops then pass around the smoldering ruin, and
continue their pursuit of the fleeing al Qaeda terrorists. These operations are
one of the few where you will sometimes seeing U.S. aircraft dropping dumb
bombs. The fire control systems on U.S. jets are good enough to hit village
size targets without GPS guidance for the bomb.
This firepower
tactic has been regularly used by U.S. troops for the last century.
Fortunately, al Qaeda is not big on studying military history. They are on a
Mission From God, and their victory is assured.
