Iraq: The Social Context of IEDs

Improvised Explosive Devices IEDs are among the deadliest weapons coalition forces face in Iraq, and defeating their use by insurgents is both essential and extremely challenging. Thus far, U.S. defense science and technology communities have focused on developing technical solutions to the IED threat. However, IEDs are a product of human ingenuity and human social organization. If we understand the social context in which they are invented, built, and used we will have an additional avenue for defeating them. As U.S. Army Brigadier General Joseph Votel, head of the Pentagons Joint IED Task Force, noted, commanders should focus less on the bomb than the bomb maker. A shift in focus from IED technology to IED makers requires examining the social environment in which bombs are invented, manufactured, distributed, and used. Focusing on the bomb maker requires understanding the four elements that make IED use possible in Iraq knowledge, organization, material, and the surrounding population.