Tulsa World: IEDs push Afghan toll higher

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IEDs push Afghan toll higher

By Associated Press
Published: 10/28/2009 2:26 AM
Last Modified: 10/28/2009 5:38 AM

Roadside bombs — the biggest killer of U.S. soldiers — claimed eight more American lives Tuesday, driving the U.S. death toll to a record for the third time in four months.

The casualties bring to 55 the total number of U.S. personnel killed in October in Afghanistan. The next highest toll was in August, when 51 U.S. soldiers died and the troubled country had the first round of its presidential election amid a wave of violence.

By comparison, the deadliest month of the Iraq conflict for U.S. forces was November 2004, when 137 Americans died during a major assault to clear insurgents from Fallujah.

Homemade bombs, also called improvised explosive devices or IEDs, are responsible for between 70 percent and 80 percent of the casualties among U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and have become a weapon of "strategic influence," said Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz in Washington.

The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said President Barack Obama has nearly finished gathering information on whether to send tens of thousands more U.S. forces to quell the deepening insurgency. A meeting Friday with the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be among the last events in the decision-making process, Gibbs said.

Capt. Adam Weece, a spokesman for U.S. forces in southern Afghanistan, said both of Tuesday's attacks took place in the southern Kandahar province.

Lt. Col. Todd Vician, another spokesman for U.S. forces, said the troops were patrolling in armored vehicles when a bomb ripped

through one, killing seven service members and an Afghan civilian.

The eighth American died in a similar bombing elsewhere in the south.

The number of effective IED attacks in Afghanistan has grown from 19 in September 2007 to 106 last month.

"It's a weapon system that the enemy has figured out has strategic impact," said Metz, who leads the U.S. military organization assigned to defeat improvised explosive devices. "It really hampers our ability to execute a counterinsurgency doctrine. And it's a weapon system that has to be fought, and I don't think we can back off or shy away from fighting it." By Associated Press

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oldrustytulsa, Tulsa (10/28/2009 7:05:19 PM)

And Obama waits,?

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