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Sen. Casey Pushes US Army Efforts To Combat IEDs

By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Dozens of representatives of businesses today heard from a US senator and an Army general about how they can get involved in what may be the fight of the century -- against improvised explosive devices ("IEDs").

The session first heard from Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who's been pushing the anti-IED message in capitals near and far, for solutions both technical and political.

"And it's not going to be much of a future if we allow this scourge of IEDs not just to continue on the battlefield, but to continue across the world, because this IED problem is blowing up restaurants," Casey (seat at left in photo) told the gathering at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, in center city Philadelphia.

"We need lighter, more-integrated capabilities -- sensors, jammers, pre-detection systems, that are integrated at birth and not lashed together as an afterthought," suggested Lt. General Michael Barbero, the head of the military's anti-IED efforts.

Gen. Barbero (at lectern in photo) predicts that IEDs will be this century's number-one killer of troops, and he too expects more use in civilian areas.

 

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