Why does the liberal press use the term IED? Aren't these just land mines like everyone else uses?

Question

I first think IUD whenever I hear it and that makes them sound kind of "friendly."

Answer 1

Who exactly is "everyone else"?  If the term is appropriate I don't understand the gratuitous complaining.

Answer 2

The US is a land of acronyms

Answer 3

IED is the correct term. It is used by and was coined by the military.

It stands for Improvised Explosive Device.

Land mine is a professional term of art used by professional soldiers. IF you look at the wikipedia page you can see that there are particular forms of landmines, that are manufactured and used by various nations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_mine

They are very different from IED's that are, by definition, Improvised. They can be of any size, they can be hidden in many different places, they have different forms of detonation, and many involve incendiary effects as well as explosives.

IED is the correct term.

Answer 4

Leftover explosives from Saddam's stockpile of weapons used to make low technology land mines. Nothing liberal about it. It describes the innovative process used in gorilla warfare.

It's interesting how images and acronyms get mixed up - I had the same reaction with the IED/IUD association. For example your YA icon reminds me of the famous hooded Iraqi POW image of torture - with electroshock electrodes. I tried to get a better look but your 360 profile is turned off.

Answer 5

Though IED's are sometimes very sophisticate devices they are or at least started out as "improvised" because they used munitions or explosives designed for one thing to do another; the new IED's being designed from the start for that purpose could probably be considered mines but the older term is still used.  I am sure their could be a great semantics debate on this but the result is they serve the same purpose and are used in the same way so either term could be used but it really doesn't make that much of a difference.  Mines can be remotely detonated and mines for anti-tank use are large and use shaped charges, the orinal difference is that the early IED's were artillery sheels, bombs or explosives remaoved from those that were modified to do that purpose instead of beigned for use as an "ambush" weapon and remotely detonated.  Some IED's are also not re,otely dtonated so the line is very blurry especially now that they are manufactured by some governments to be used that way.

Answer 6

No, they are not. Landmines are manufactured in armaments factories.

Improvised Explosive Devices are home made booby traps.

And by the way, the Army refers to them as IED's, so are you saying the Army represents the liberal press.

Sheesh, brainwashed republicans are a menace to our national discourse.

Answer 7

First  of all, its really NOT

the "liberal" Media, we have a mainstream medial that was supposed to function as the 4th estate however they got bought out by GREED INC.

Also, the IED refers to an "improvised explosive device" not just a generic land mine but something that had to be assembled out of whatever happened to be available.

Anyhow TV is a WMD

that is a Weapon of Mass Deception!

Answer 8

The military first started using it as a acronym for "Improvised Explosive Device" since they aren't traditional land mines but several explosives, most homemade, that are used against us.  Originally they were called roadside bombs and that term is still used by some people.  The media just heard us use it and they started using it too.

Answer 9

Not all IEDs are landmines - in fact, many of the nastier ones are far different - remote controlled explosives fashioned from old artillery shells, car bombs and even improvised penetrators that fire a hot jet of copper out of a tube.

Definitely a far cry from the traditional pressure-activated dish that sits buried in the ground.

Answer 10

I thought they were referred to as IED's (Improvised Explosive Device) because they are much cruder than manufactured land mines.  Burying a box with a couple sticks of dynamite in it is technically a land mine, but it isn't quite what comes to mind when one thinks of "land mine."

I don't know why you would assume this is some kind of liberal press conspiracy.  I first heard Fox News using the term.

Answer 11

a land mine blows up when you step on it. a IED is a bigger explosion and shoots a lot more shrapnel everywhere.

Answer 12

No, they are Improvised Explosive Devices. It's not a Liberal Media term, it's a military term. They range from a hand-grenade under a dead body to several large artillery shells wired to a detonation device. Others are hidden in animal carcasses, or disguised as a concrete block. There are some, particularly shape-charges, which are more sophisticated. Including genuine mines when they can get their hands on them.

Answer 13

IED's or Improvised Explosive Devices are much worse than land mines and are hidden in things that look harmless like animal carcasses, chip bags, pop bottles, road cones and anything else that you would not think looks harmful.  They are done in a few different ways the most destructive is the daisy chain method because it has the chance to harm more vehicles and people.  The first one is set off and then the others go off in a times manner.  They also can contain projectiles such as nails, screws, broke marbles, metal fragments or anything that can tear through flesh.  They also have armor penetrating IED's now that blast a flat metal plate through the air aimed at Humvees and other armored personnel carriers.  As the metal plate moves through the air it is molded by the force of the air pressure into a sharp, pointed cone shape that will penetrate standard amor and harm soldiers.  Drivers in the military have issues with driving because of these after they come home.  They will avoid the sides of the road and drive down the center, they don't like going under bridges because they can be hiding places for giant IED's.  If you want to see the force and destruction of IEDs go to www.youtube.com and search for IED's.  That is the best way to understand the IED and it's capabilities if you can't experience it for yourself.  

Answer 14

The press uses the term correctly.  An IED is Improvied Explosive Device.  They are not land mines.  And IED is a ghetto explosive, which can be made from a soda can, dead animal, box, anything almost.  

You assumed they were the same thing.

Answer 15

IED "improvised explosive device" old term was "improvised munition"; land mines are standard, and it is relatively easy to learn how to disarm or dismantle them, or recognize when they are a type that cannot be disarmed easily

improvised munitions are made individually and each is different depending on the materials available to the person constructing them, and there are no certainties as how to handle any particular device

IED's are much more dangerous to remove than standard issue mines

Answer 16

What is a IUD?  Isn't that something that goes into a woman for birth control?