Can the U.S. Prevent This?

In Iraq, improved explosive devices--homemade bombs also known as IEDs--have caused more than half of the 2,300 U.S. troop deaths. In terrorist attacks in Madrid and London, those devices were the plotters' weapons of choice, and bomb experts believe it is only a matter of time before an IED strike takes place in the U.S. But Washington has done little to prepare a national strategy for the threat. According to government sources and bomb experts, efforts to coordinate Administration plans to deal with the danger have stalled in part because of inexperienced leadership and bureaucratic infighting. The Bush Administration created a...