Perspective: In Iraq, such decisions mean life or death

BAQOUBA, Iraq -- A grainy video screen cast an eerie green light on those of us huddled in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle, rumbling down roads through the heart of insurgent territory. There was no moon and no light - only a thermal imaging display of the view from the gunner's turret above. "I see a mortar round partially buried on the left," said Spc. Brandon Osborne, the gunner. The vehicle slowed to a halt.

We squinted to see what Osborne had seen. Something shiny protruded from a mound of mud to the side of the road. Could it be a harmless piece of metal? Perhaps an unexploded shell - or a deadly roadside bomb ready to go off?

The decision about what to do next could spell the difference between life and death. Such decisions face American soldiers across Iraq countless times each day.

Read the rest at the Post Intelligencer