IED's in Afghanistan

[bobthebandit]

Why are IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices) termed 'Improvised' ?
The dictionary definition of 'Improvised' is:- "made or said without previous preparation"
This cannot be an accurate description, considering the carnage these bombs are causing.

[slinkycat]

Despite the dictionary definition though, don't most people think of improvised as using what comes to hand? I'm assuming thats what it means

[jno]

like slinkycat says, I guess the idea is that you don't get your explosives, as the army would, by buying them from top British death merchants but make them yourself with whatever materials you can get.

[slinkycat]

Not a fan of the British army then, jno?

[jno]

I wasn't thinking of the army particularly, slinkycat, but the mighty UK 'defence' industry. We sell an awful lot of destruction to anyone who'll pay.

[slinkycat]

sorry jno, misinterpreted your response, your right there, and then the west condemns the use of said weapons

[123everton]

Robin Cook (God bless him) devised an "ethical foreign policy" whereby we'd only sell bombs and bullets to people who promised not to use them.
If memory serves B.A.E systems owns a munitions factory in Iran that manufactures and sells (legally) land mines.

[Gromit]

IEDs are crude but cheap and deadly explosive devices, as apposed to the more refined and expensive versions we sell.

[anotheoldgit]

Most industrial countries make weapons of war, would you hand wringing lefties rather us go cap in hand to another country to buy our own defence weapons, be them bullets, shells, bombs, aircraft, tanks or ships?

Regarding the carnage caused by these IED's, this could end if they temporary ceased foot patrols.

They must be planted at certain locations, so in the mean time, why not carry out round the clock helicopter patrols, seek these 'planters' out and destroy them along with their handiwork?

[Gromit]

In case you have been asleep for the past 9 years AOG, we do not have enough helicopters to carry out that task which is why get about by road.

Good to see you are happy with British soldiers being killed by British made armourments sold to any dodgy country that pay for them.

[anotheoldgit]

If you had read my post correctly instead of just skimming over it, to get your left-wing, anti British view over, you would have noticed that when I referred to helicopters, I wasn't referring to troop transporters such as the American Chinook. I was in fact referring to the much smaller gun-ship Apache.

I take great offence with your lying assumption that I am happy to see British soldiers killed, or the fact that it is British made armaments (the correct spelling gromit) that are killing our troops.

It can only be the likes of you that have never donned a British uniform or are ever likely to, that could come up with such a gross statements such as this.

[Gromit]

AOG: FYI

//Taleban fighters have been using deadly white phosphorus munitions, some of them manufactured in Britain, to attack Western forces in Afghanistan, according to previously classified United States documents released yesterday.

White phosphorus, which can burn its victims down to the bone, has been found in improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in regions across Afghanistan including in the south, where British troops are based. It has also been used in mortar and rocket attacks on American forces.//

http://www.timesonlin...ia/article6269646.ece


//I’ve just got back from a fascinating briefing at the Pakistan High Commission in Singapore, during which a senior diplomat claimed that pro-Taliban fighters were attacking the Pakistani army with an advanced assault rifle that is normally only used by the SAS.
The diplomat added that MI6 agents and several foreign journalists had been shown the weapons in question but that the Pakistani army still had no idea who was providing the militants with such advanced hardware.//

http://blogs.telegrap...gainst_Pakistan_army/

[anotheoldgit]

Your links don't prove anything, except to say that certain munitions have found their way to the enemy.

/// some of the white phosphorus munitions that had been recovered showed that they had been manufactured in a number of different countries, including Britain, China, Russia and Iran. ///

/// Royal Ordnance factories owned by BAE Systems make 81mm mortars that the British fire with white phosphorus rounds for illumination in Afghanistan. But the MoD denied that the Taleban had somehow acquired British mortars sent to troops in Helmand. The US evidence showed that the only white phosphorus shells found in that province were 120mm and 105mm munitions. “These are not used by British forces,” the MoD said. ///

Regarding the rifles.

/// pro-Taliban fighters were attacking the Pakistani army with an advanced assault rifle that is normally only used by the SAS.///

Used by the SAS maybe, but not necessarily manufactured in the UK, there are many various weapons manufactured in Eastern Europe that find their way on to UK streets.

If weapons exist then they are open currency to anyone who can get hold of them. Are you saying that no weapons should exist in your dreams of a perfect Utopia