Word: defeatism
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...Insurgent groups have had four years' practice in making and camouflaging IEDs. The bombs are especially hard to detect in crowded urban areas full of potholes, drains and sewers. The abundance of garbage on Baghdad's streets can defeat devices meant to locate bombs in relatively uncluttered locales. A discarded refrigerator on the curb could be packed with explosives. Every parked car is potentially a vehicle-borne IED (military jargon for a car bomb). Built-up areas also offer hiding places for those who plant the explosives and set them off. Abdallah says he has been asked to make trigger...
...response, the U.S. is stepping up its efforts to thwart the growing potency of IEDs. The Pentagon has formed a task force, the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO). Its more than 500 workers include "red teams," who spend their days trying to think like insurgents, hoping to stay ahead of them. JIEDDO has spent more than $5 billion in the past three years and has a $4 billion budget for the current year. The Pentagon says its spending yields tangible results. "Three years ago, practically every IED incident created some kind of casualty," says Brigadier General Anthony Tata, JIEDDO...
General Richard Cody, Army vice chief of staff, told Congress in April that finding and defusing roadside bombs is not a long-term solution. "The real issue about defeating IEDs ... is not at the point of impact," he said. "We have to go and find the guys making them and kill them. We have to find the guys who are getting ready to place them and kill them. That's how you defeat IEDs...
Abdallah concurs. "They are not going to defeat me with technology," he says. "If they want to get rid of IEDs, they have to kill me and everyone like me." If they don't, Abdallah is only going to get better at what he does, with deadly consequences for American soldiers. The terrorism geek has come a long way since our previous meeting. To demonstrate his prowess, he produces a black briefcase-size device with Japanese markings and flicks a switch on its side. He claims that the device is similar to those used by U.S. troops to block cellular...
...course, the President and his party may try to exploit the inevitable outrage from this defeat. But actually there's another way for them to make chicken salad out of something you are now allowed to say in prime time. They could call off the decency crusade. They could say it's a good thing to protest idiotic crudity--on the radio, on TV or on the Senate floor--but to legislate against it is another matter. They could embrace the civil libertarians to whom they inadvertently handed...