todd bowers is a staff sergeant in the marine corps reserves.e served two tours in iraq and one in afghanistan last year. he's the deputy executive director of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. and retired army colonel peter mansoor was a brigade commander in iraq and wrote a book about his experience, "baghdad at sunrise." he served as executive officer to general petraeus during the surge in 2007-2008. he now teaches military history at ohio state university. and peterman soor, in the recent news you haven't heard much about pitched battles with individual fighters, has the i.e.d. become the weapon of choice for the afghan insurgency? >> it. it's a smart weapon for the insurgents to use. they don't have to put their troops at risk. but it is also a fairly indiscriminate weapon killing civilians and military forces alike. so the enemy clearly is willing to use those kind of weapons and take the fallout as it occurs. >> suarez: well, what makes it, as you say, smart what makes it an attractive, useful weapon for them? >> well, again, the