Iraq: March 16, 2004

Archives

Six American soldiers were killed by roadside bombs over the weekend. It's believed that this is just a spike in the casualties. Bad luck. The battle of wits between troops and bombers has been going on with increasing intensity. The bombers have been very frustrated, seeing dozens of their carefully constructed bombs discovered and destroyed for every one that killed or wounded any Americans. The bombers have a growing catalog of ways to disguise bombs along the side of the road, and how to arrange them. Multiple bombs, arranged in increasingly complex patterns, are more common. This is making life a lot more stressful for the people organizing convoys and trying to keep the roads safe. These troops have to memorize a growing list of "things to watch for because they might be bombs." With a growing number of Iraqi police on the job, the chances are increasing that the bomb makers will get caught. But there are a lot of bomb makers, and that is unusual. The roadside bomb campaign has become a major cause of coalition casualties only because Iraqis secret police and intelligence services had a large number of people already trained to make these kinds of bombs. Most of the bomb makers are Sunni Arabs living in areas that can still muster a crowd for a pro-Saddam demonstration. This complicates police work. But until the bomb makers are rounded up, the bombs will continue to get placed, and a percentage of them will get used.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close