1.8.03
Problems masquerading as solutions, pt II.
This reuters article quotes Col. David Teeples, commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment:
This reuters article quotes Col. David Teeples, commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment:
Over the past two weeks, his forces have witnessed an escalation in attacks by improvised explosive devices -- TNT, plastic explosive and propane cylinders hooked to electrical wires triggered by remote control devices.This is where it gets interesting, folks. Any Iraqi, armed with only a shoebox or a discarded tire, can stop an entire American military convoy at will and cause chaos. The US may as well start travelling in bulldozer convoys rather than humvees. This is "militarily impractical". Either the US will get sloppy about trash in the street, and keep getting blown up once in a while, or Iraqis will be able to begin the intifada of trash-in-the-streets.
U.S. troops have responded by stepping up highway patrols in an effort to stop the bloodshed.
"Any piles of sand, bags, garbage, tires, anything that may be close to the road is going to be taken very cautiously," Teeples told Reuters in an interview in his command center in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces on the edge of Ramadi.
"It is going to be cleared with a bulldozer or there will be action by the convoy against those that may be close enough to command detonate that."
