"Ask not what your country
can do for you;
ask what you can do
for your country."

- John F Kennedy (JFK)

‘Flying IEDs’ Pose New Iraq Threat  

July 10, 2008

Agence France-Presse

The widening use of rocket-propelled bombs in Iraq is posing a deadly new challenge to occupying US troops, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The bombs, dubbed improvised rocket-assisted munitions (IRAMs), have left at least 21 people dead, including three US troops, this year, the Post said.

Their use by suspected Shiite militia marks a "broadening (of) the array of weapons used against US troops," the report said.

"They are propane tanks packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives and powered by 107mm rockets. They are often fired by remote control from the backs of trucks, sometimes in close succession," the Post reported.

"US military officials say IRAM attacks, unlike roadside bombings and conventional mortar or rocket attacks, have the potential to kill scores of soldiers at once.

"IRAMs are fired at close range, unlike most rockets, and create much larger explosions. Most such attacks have occurred in the capital, Baghdad," the report added.

It also highlighted the militiamen's skill in arms adaptation.

"Use of the rocket-propelled bombs reflects militiamen's ability to use commonly available materials and relatively low-tech weaponry to circumvent security measures that have cost the US military billions of dollars," the report said.

"To combat roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, US and Iraqi troops have set up scores of checkpoints throughout the capital, increased patrols and purchased hundreds of armored vehicles that can resist such attacks," it noted.

"IRAM attacks could be very tragic against us," the report quoted Colonel William Hickman, the commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division, working in Baghdad, as saying. "We take them very seriously."

Photos provided by The Long War Journal

From 2000 to 2005 the Fund provided close to $20 million to families of United States military personnel lost in performance of their duty, mostly in service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In January 2007, the Fund completed construction of a $40 million world-class state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation center at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.


                

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