"some commanders are worried about(IED's)increasingly used to target American Officers.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

Reporter Jane Arraf, in Baghdad.

"New kinds of bombs"..."can pierce tanks" with projectiles.

She was with an American Military Training Unit, which had lost five people in the last week including a Colonel and two Lieutenant Colonels.

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=5fe4e26f-da74-438d-b920-3ef513418dcf&f=00&fg=email

Officers targeted, tank piercing explosives, we are sure "prevailing", aren't we? MKJ

[Virginia Dare]

1. This brings up an interesting question...

did the ISG broach the subject as to who was funding and training the so-called "insurgents"? It certainly isn't Saddam.

[Selatius]

3. Many of those guerrilla fighters are veterans of previous wars.

A military draft in Iraq has been apart of life for many years under Ba'athist rule. Millions served during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, so many of these guys already are veterans, and it is likely that many international arms smugglers are now present in and around Iraq ready to sell their goods.

[rocktivity]

11. Bad insurgents! BAD!!!

Go back to targeting the contractors and enlistees and leave our nice officers alone!

:spank:
rocknation

[whistle]

2. (IED) Improvised Explosive Device.....

<snip>
INFORMATION:
Designation: Improvised Explosive Device (IED)
Type: Improvised Explosive Device
Manufacturer: Home-made / Battlefield Improvised.
Country of Origin: Russia
Operation: Timed / Fuse/ Radio-Activated Explosive
Caliber: NA
Service Year:

DIMENSIONS:
Overall Length:
NA
Weight (Empty):
Dependent on type of explosive
Weight (Loaded):
Dependent on type of explosive

PERFORMANCE:
Rate of Fire: NA
Rounds: Single Instance
Range: Varies depending on explosive used.

http://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=11

[fuzzyball]

9. Are the Russians supplying IED's to the insurgents?

Or are they funneled via another country such as Iran?

[whistle]

12. I have no idea....I did a google search on IED as I did not know

...what that stood for and posted that link because it had a photo. It seems that the weapon which our half a trillion dollar a year military claims it is most helpless against, can be built from junk lying around along with some primitive type explosives. They give the weapon a fancy sounding acronym, IED and ask for another $100 billion and trillions more in new weapon systems to fight it. War is a racket and those who push for war are racketeers!

[Porcupine]

4. Why do you think this is new?

Of course the "insurgents" are targeting officers. Any officer that leaves the green zone with a visible marking of rank is asking to get shot. Likewise if he/she stays on the ground long enough for a sniper to figure out who the officer is from watching troop movement.

They used a weapon that cracked an M-1 tank almost a year ago. They've been cracking armored personnel carriers on a regular basis. Not news.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. My sincere apologies for offending you. It was news this morning and I hadn't heard about this until

today.

Thanks for the scolding, I'm sure you're sure I deserved it. And, I certainly learned a lot from your insightful and provocative post.MKJ

[A Simple Game]

6. I do appreciate your post, it was news to me.

The sad part is, if not for the complaint you responded to, I wouldn't have posted and let you know I appreciate your efforts.

Thanks for your efforts and keep up the good work.

[DU9598]

7. Me too

It is news to me and I appreciate your post. Thanks, CJ

[whistle]

13. Hey BleedingHeartPatriot, that scolding is nothing but fear talking

....we have a military which is funded with a half of a trillion dollars annually. Plus they have been given $390 billion to do battle in Iraq since the invasion in March of 2003. Still, with all this support of money and they most technically advanced weaponary and highly trained and diciplined fighting forces, they are telling congress and the American tax payers that they are helpless against an enemy which can improvise weapons in the battlefield and in the ruins of their bombed out homes and under cover of their thousands of dead, seeking and targeting officers in our military and virtually any combat soldier we send over there. That is totally astounding!

The destruction and pillage that our military has rained down on the Iraqi people day after day, so awful they won't even show it in news footage or videos, or even allow reporters to talk about. It is so horrendous, yet the Iraqis can improvise IEDs that take out U.S. military armor and pick off U.S. officers and combatants one or two or ten at a time, day, after day, after day, until the limits of patience and tolerance and sanity are stretched to the bursting point.

Then the U.S. commanders will unleash a fury of devastation and destruction so intense, even God will wince. In their madness these commanders will destroy everything which moves in Iraq even their own. Then they will turn those same weapons of destruction against anyone who so much as utters a word of criticism or shows an act of defiance against what they have done.

These same commanders driven insane by their own shame and guilt will deny their minds or their consciences to face the truth about what they have done. Even their own deaths will not relieve their souls of that torment. That is the nature of these non-humans whom we have given such power and authority to.

That is why you are being scolded BleedingHeartPatriot, the truth about our own weakness and vulnerability is just too horrible to face and the consequence of not being able to admit to that failure is even more horrible. So, the bulliest and the cowards filled with the falsity of pride pick on those who they think are the weaker ones. IEDs indeed! Bullshit.

[Porcupine]

15. The "news" is largely a whitewash. DU'ers have been better informed

for some time. We've had several discussions about a new generation of IED's for several years. At least on M-1 Abrams tank was destroyed and several have been demobilized. At one point a marine armored aphibious personel carrier was blow compltetely off the road killing the squad inside.

Eliminating the officer corps of your enemy has been SOP for snipers since the Civil War and before. The Iraqi insurgent snipers are very good at this. In Iraq conditions force Iraqi snipers into a one-shot-and-run tactic. They have to make every shot count so it's worth the wait to catch an officer.

Look:
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292236-2336437.php
http://rapidrecon.threatswatch.org/2006/12/iranian-ieds-mvp-of-global/
http://abcnews.go.com/International/IraqCoverage/story?id=1692347&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[NewYorkerfromMass]

8. Colonel one step below a Brigadier General

that is no small shit.

[Zodiak]

10. No, it is not.

There is no doubt that the insurgency has grown in sophistication and capability.

[fuzzyball]

14. With help of petro-dollars flowing from Iran perhaps?

[ellisonz]

16. Which is changed from stolen American tax-dollars...

and "Iraqi" dinars changed into Iranian rials by Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar in Tehran where they laugh at the infidels precarious quixotic decline.

[eridani]

17. Iran is donating to the Shi'ite militias--

--the guys who are supposed to be on our side. The Saudis are funding the Sunnis. Whodathunkit? Iranian Shi'ites supplying fellow Shi'ites, and Saudi Sunnis supplying fellow Sunnis. I'm shocked! SHOCKED! I tell you!

[sendero]

18. I don't think anyone...

... could have anticipated this happening! /sarcasm