Report: IED threat known before war by U.S., but did nothing to protect troops

Improvised Explosive Device(IED) - A device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating destuctive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals and designed to destroy, incapacitate, harass, or distract. It may incorporate military stores, but is normally devised from nonmilitary components.

WASHINGTON — Military leaders knew the dangers posed by roadside bombs before the start of the Iraq war but did little to develop vehicles that were known to better protect forces from what proved to be the conflict's deadliest weapon, a report by the Pentagon inspector general says.

The Pentagon "was aware of the threat posed by mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) … and of the availability of mine resistant vehicles years before insurgent actions began in Iraq in 2003," says the 72-page report, which was reviewed by USA TODAY.

The report is to be made public today.

Marine Corps leaders "stopped processing" an urgent request in February 2005 for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles from combat commanders in Iraq's Anbar province after declaring that a more heavily armored version of existing Humvee vehicles was the "best available" option for protecting troops, the report says.

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This truly shocks me ... you'd think they would send in the troops with the most protection they can get ... especially since IED attacks have been the cause of 60% of deaths in some years of coalition forces in Iraq ... there have been

1812 deaths

caused by IED's all together
Source



Just imagine how many lives would have been saved if the U.S. actually listened to their finding and did more to protect their troops from the IED's in the beginning of the war....

[edit on 9-12-2008 by baseball101]

Your thoughts are true in only one regard. That is if our troops where more heavily protected deaths would be reduced. In a perfect world that is true, but in a place that requires fast mobility and being able to move in plus one hundred degree heat there are compromises that must be made to ensure that our soldiers are not sitting ducks. RPGs and other Soviet armament can defeat most armour. We have known of the IED problem since Korea. Even in times of Napoleonic Warfare they had booby traps. The point is even with knowing that IED's exist, trying to guess how the human ingenuity will use them and how they will construct and deploy them is a learning experience in every new conflict that comes along. You cannot protect for things that have not yet been invented!
Zindo

reply to post by ZindoDoone


true, but it would have been more effective if they had used the MRAP's as requested instead of using just humvee's....

In truth you don't want you to come back!