Caroline Kennedy-Pipe

In the wake of the American-led invasion of Afghanistan and then Iraq, one weapon in particular has come to dominate the image we have of these wars-the '"Improvised Explosive Device" or IED. Dramatized by films such as The Hurt Locker and omnipresent in the media because of its continuing toll on allied service personnel, especially bomb-disposal specialists, the IED has become the ubiquitous asymmetric 'weapon of the weak' and a major threat to Western foreign policy objectives and military morale. In this rigorous book on the IED phenomenon, Caroline Kennedy argues that it is indeed a "ubiquitous weapon," but that it is not new and has been a feature of the battlefield for much longer than we imagine. She shows how the IED became a thorn in the side of the "Western way of war" and how its increasing proliferation into criminal organisations and use in "ordinary" forms of violence represents a step change in threats to both military and civil order and a potent challenge to Western interests at many levels. Suspect Devices offers a graphic interpretation of the power, both actual and symbolic, of this durable and potent weapon, and an important and urgent reflection on its contemporary relevance.

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