LAT: More than ever, insurgents are targeting U.S. forces

[DeepModem Mom]

More than ever, insurgents are targeting U.S. forces
By Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writer
November 1, 2006

Baghdad — For U.S. troops, October was a month of gritty skirmishes against fighters religiously motivated to risk their lives during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

October's death toll, the highest for American forces in nearly two years, came during a period without conventional battles or catastrophic helicopter crashes.

Rather, the 103 troops killed in Baghdad and across Iraq were victims of a steady onslaught of assaults, primarily by their longtime nemeses, Sunni Arab insurgents.

The number of attacks on American forces increased in October to unprecedented levels, U.S. military officials said....

***

It was a month in which U.S. forces were shot by snipers, struck by rocket-propelled grenades or lured into ambushes where they were sprayed with automatic-weapon fire from the AK-47s found in so many Iraqi homes.

But improvised explosive devices left along roads remained the weapon of choice for Iraq's anti-American insurgency....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usdeaths1nov01,0,1098457.story?coll=la-home-world

[bemildred]

1. I guess there is no high-tech magic to stop IEDs.

After 3.5 years and who knows how much money for research, still the "weapon of choice".

[LiberalFighter]

2. Makes it easy for insurgents to kill our troops while they are there