Odierno: Higher troop deaths due to Petraeus' outpost strategy, sophisticated enemy perimeter defenses

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq, inspects Zaganiyah Patrol Base on April 29.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said... the high number of U.S. troop deaths in recent days has been caused both by their closer proximity to enemy forces while disbursed into joint security stations and combat outposts, and by the enemy’s efforts to build “bigger and bigger” improvised explosive devices and burying them more deeply — as well as using them to form defensive perimeters.

“What we’re finding is the insurgents and extremists use IEDs as their own little security and support zones,” Odierno said. “They use large, buried IEDs, in areas we have not been before. And some of them have been somewhat effective — which has raised our death toll.

“We are working very hard to counter this,” Odierno said. “I have confidence that we’ll be able to do that over time. But it’s going to be some hard sledding here.”

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