Why can't we defeat IEDs?

• Author: Ortiz, Tony
• Position: LETTERS - Letter to the Editor

Since day one of the Iraq war, I've been reading of these "roadside bombs" that have killed scores of our soldiers. Yet, when aroused by my curiosity of what these "roadside bombs" actually look like, a Google image search revealed nothing--just a bunch of aftermath photos of overturned Humvees, smoking Bradleys, and dead bodies.

Why is it that two years have gone by and no photograph of an undetonated roadside bomb is available or even some sort of replica? Aren't these objects the single biggest contributor to U.S. casualties in Iraq? During WWII, the U.S. and Great Britain were doing battle with far more sophisticated German technology, like the U-boats, German radar, and the V1 and V2 rockets.

The Allies rose to the challenge and created...