Every other week or so I read a story about the war in Iraq in which an American military officer or soldier, or an Iraqi police officer says something along the lines of, "They keep inventing new ways to kill us." It is ironic for a news site dedicated to cutting edge, state-of-the art, whiz-bang military technology that the enemies of the United States in Iraq are wreaking havoc with the lowest tech equipment available. Conventional explosives rigged up with stuff you could find in your garage. And then they're driving these homemade bombs right past the security checkpoints built to stop them. How? Apparently, by doing little more than covering their explosives with tennis shoes and bricks.
The Associated Press reported over the weekend on a series of suicide bombings in which the bombers got past various checkpoints with one of the oldest checkpoint tricks in the book. Covering the illicit materials with a cloth or something. And here's the obligatory quote from Iraqi police Cpl. Hussam Ali: "We were very cautious, but this time we were taken by surprise. The insurgents are inventing new methods to hurt us." This is a common dilemma in the age of asymetric warfare -- and when your enemy has less of a need to be surgical about its strikes -- but one has to wonder whether the United States is wasting millions on cool toys when maybe a lot more bodies on the ground searching cars and trucks would be more useful. When the enemy is literally fighting with fire, do you really need ray guns and exoskeleton technology?
--Catherine MacRae Hockmuth
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