Makeshift Bombs Spread Beyond Afghanistan, Iraq - Thom Shanker, New York Times.
American military officers are expressing concern over the spreading use of makeshift bombs beyond the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan to other countries in the region, as well as in East Asia and South America. Improvised explosive devices, as the military calls them, have been the largest killer of American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, showing up with devastating effect in Pakistan and India, but also with less notice in Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Colombia, Somalia and parts of North Africa. Even Russian security forces have faced the devices in the republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan, although attacks in Chechnya have fallen.
"There is a robust and constant IED effort among violent extremists who are using it as their weapon of choice," said Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, director of the Pentagon's organization in charge of seeking ways to counter improvised explosives. "That won't change for decades. We are in this fight for a long time." General Metz, who will discuss the spread of improvised bombs during testimony on Thursday before a House Armed Services subcommittee, said global IED cases outside Iraq and Afghanistan averaged about 300 per month. The count includes detonations and the discovery of intact devices. The military's global statistics on the bombs remain classified, to prevent extremists from knowing what the United States knows. But a compilation of worldwide episodes from private-sector security consultants illustrates the threat...
More at The New York Times.
Comments
What is most alarming is the transfer of weapons technology across extremist groups. Facilitated mainly by the net. What would have taken years to reach across borders now does so in a matter of seconds.
How one combats this is going to be a question for this decade. The bazaar mentality that John Robb talks about is just that , its a non physical space where the tolerances of ideology, weapons tech and know how all blend together. where groups with only violent intent in common are now able to cooperate for mutual gain.
I see this as the crucial CT battle space.