"People are calling me all the time, asking for new ways to ..." Abdallah says, pressing down his right thumb on an imaginary remote control, and adds, "... Boom!" to TIME correspondents. A classic example of shared innovation in Iraq's open source war.TIME's Bobby Ghosh has a great interview with an open source IED developer working for Sunni groups (read the whole thing). More:
Brigadier General Joe Ramirez Jr., deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Training Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., said, "For every move we make, the enemy makes three ... The enemy changes techniques, tactics and procedures every two to three weeks."
"They are not going to defeat me with technology," he says. "If they want to get rid of IEDs, they have to kill me and everyone like me." If they don't, Abdallah is only going to get better at what he does, with deadly consequences for American soldiers.