Excellent Washington Post story on the perils our guys face on the Baghdad Airport Road. Read the whole thing. Here is a bit on the constant adjustments being made to deal with insurgents on the road:

“The Army previously sent regular convoys to patrol the road; now soldiers are armed to the teeth and bring along tank-tracked Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The Bradleys are equipped with special magnification tools that allow soldiers to peer into and under cars from a safe distance to determine whether they are a threat. New tactics have quelled most small-arms fire on the road, and improvised bombs are rarely planted on the roadsides because constant patrols have left insurgents without time to place them.

The car bombs, however, are a different story. There is almost nothing the military can do to stop suicide bombers, short of identifying them early, forcing the vehicles off the road or attacking them. The soldiers use profiles — including certain makes and models of cars and nervous or erratic behavior — to intervene as early as possible. They fire warning shots before putting bullets through a car’s engine block. As a last resort, they will kill a driver if the threat appears great enough.”