An Insurgency In Ukraine Is Growing, Says a Former FBI Acting Deputy Director and IED Expert


After the United States and coalition partners invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, it was not long before improvised explosive devices – sometimes called roadside bombs or simply IEDs – began to take a toll. Less sophisticated at first, and initially underestimated by senior United States military leaders because of the inability of IEDs in the first months of the invasion to significantly damage combat vehicles, IED incidents grew rapidly and became devastating in their sophistication and effectiveness. In his 2017 article, Jason Shell concluded “60 percent of all American fatalities in Iraq and half of all American fatalities in Afghanistan, more than 3,500 in total, were caused by IEDs.”

Additionally, in its heyday, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was producing IEDs on a truly industrial scale, and enjoying significant battlefield successes until a concerted effort was made to eliminate the group. To understand where Ukraine is going on the IED front, we must first return to the past. Borrowing a phrase from the famous movie of the same name, we must go “back to the future.”

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Source: SOFREP