IRAQ: Iraqis get U.S. technology to fight roadside bombs

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When the long history of the Iraq war is written, it may become known, at least in military circles, as the war in which the improvised explosive device was perfected beyond anything seen in previous conflicts.

The killing power of the roadside bomb was one of the things that the U.S. did not fully anticipate when it led the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. When the insurgency erupted full-force in 2004, it started an arms race between insurgent bomb-makers and U.S. technicians looking for ways to thwart the bombs.

So what happens when the U.S. stops its combat operations next year and then withdraws altogether? Will the Iraqi forces, without the high-tech countermeasures used by the U.S., find themselves easy prey?

As a partial answer, the Army is training Iraqis in the use of a gizmo called the Symphony, developed by Lockheed-Martin. It jams the radio signals often used to detonate roadside bombs.

Systems have been installed in 22 Iraqi Humvees and 11 Badger light-armored vehicles in Iraqi engineering units assigned to route-clearance patrols.

-- Tony Perry, San Diego