From The Associated Press, 9/24/04:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6089592/

This month looks like one of deadliest for U.S.

63 killed so far; homemade bombs biggest threat in IraqThe Associated
Press

WASHINGTON -

For U.S. troops in Iraq, homemade bombs are the main killers, despite
the hundreds of millions of dollars the Pentagon has spent trying to
curb the weapons made from simple, easy-to-obtain materials.

As September shapes up as one of the deadliest months in Iraq for U.S.
troops, the Pentagon estimates it is finding 40 percent of roadside
bombs before they explode.

But military officials say the problem persists even with teams of
technical experts working to defeat the threat.

In the first 22 days of the month, at least 63 members of the Army,
Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force died, Pentagon casualty reports show.

With a week to go, September is the fifth deadliest month since
President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1,
2003.

The worst month was April (135 deaths), followed by May (80).

In addition, September has seen the beheadings of two American
civilians and insurgent attacks that have killed dozens of Iraqi
police and hundreds of civilians.

More than 7,400 soldiers have been wounded since the war began, of
whom 4,026 were unable to return to duty, according to Pentagon
figures.

Growing pace

The pace of U.S. military deaths has grown each month since the
American occupation force handed over political control to an interim
Iraqi government June 28.

Both President Bush and military leaders like Gen. Richard Myers,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said they expect the
violence to grow further in the months before January elections.

"Clearly the incidents of violence are up" this month, Rumsfeld told
the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

He predicted violence would get worse between now and January because
the insurgents are bent on stopping creation of a legitimate
government.

At least 15 of the first 29 Army deaths in September were caused by
homemade bombs, which the military calls improvised explosive devices.
Most are hidden or disguised along roadways used by U.S. military
convoys.

Others are delivered to their target in cars and other vehicles.

The Marine Corps does not announce the specific cause or place of
death for its casualties, but Pentagon officials say IEDs are
accounting for roughly the same share of Marine deaths as for the Army
-- about 50 percent.

That would equate to at least a dozen Marines so far this month.

At the Pentagon, one senior Army officer who monitors progress against
the insurgency said the 155mm artillery shells and other explosives
used to arm the improvised bombs are so easily available that the
supply cannot be stopped, even though ammunition dumps are under
surveillance.

The officer discussed the problem only on condition that he not be
identified.

The officer estimated hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent
so far trying to counter the IED threat, to no apparent effect.

40 percent found

Within 24 hours of a reported IED attack, a team of military forensics
experts and other specialists is dispatched to the scene.

They inspect evidence, interview soldiers in the area and assess the
technique used by the attackers.

A recreation of the scene is sketched digitally and fed to experts who
compare it with previous cases in search of patterns of attack.

Remotely piloted surveillance aircraft are being used not only to
search for IED attackers but also to monitor places where bombmakers
are mostly likely to obtain explosives.

That effort has enabled U.S. troops to find an estimated 40 percent of
IEDs before they explode, but it has not stopped the killing and
maiming.

Indeed, bombs rigged to explode in cars or along U.S. supply convoy
routes continue to kill or wound American troops and Iraqi security
forces almost daily.

On Tuesday, a car bomb exploded on Baghdad’s airport road, wounding
four U.S. soldiers and an unknown number of Iraqi civilians.

On Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier near the city of
Tikrit.

On Sept. 6, seven members of the 1st Marine Division from Camp
Pendleton, Calif., and three U.S.-trained Iraqi soldiers were killed
by a car bomb near Fallujah, which is believed to be a base for Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant whom U.S. officials believe
spearheads much of the violence in Iraq.

The most dangerous part of Iraq in recent weeks has been Anbar
province, which includes the restive cities of Ramadi and Fallujah
west of Baghdad as well as a long frontier with Syria where Marines
have suffered numerous casualties from snipers, mortar attacks and
roadside bombs.

At least 30 U.S. troops, mostly Marines, have been killed in Anbar
this month.

At least 14 deaths were in Baghdad, the rest in various towns and
cities, including Mosul, Balad and Baqubah.

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"Bring 'Em On!"

George W. Bush

Harry