On May 1, 2003, President Bush stood on an aircraft carrier and announced to the world the War in Iraq was “mission accomplished.” Just three weeks later, a hidden bomb detonates near an unarmored HMMWV on a road near Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding three others. It is one of the first acts that open the floodgates for what will be the most successful, lethal weapon waged in the War on Terror: the improvised explosive device.

As American technology against IED attacks advances, so do the insurgents’ tactics. To counter the enemy’s ploy to use ringing cell phones to detonate IEDs, the US developed electronic jammers to block their reception. It wasn’t long after US convoy patrols began carrying the jammers that the insurgents began using “command detonations,” direct impulses sent through long cords, to set off IEDs instead. When it was discovered the US was tapping insurgent phone calls that detailed the plans for IED placement, the enemy began to use a more primary means of communication: couriers.

There is a definite evolution in the IED business, and it doesn’t stop at the planning stages.

IEDs are still rudimentary and crude by nature, but the bombs are now being fashioned into a more devastating form. “Shaped” charges are IED explosives that actually concentrate the blast to a fine, armor-penetrating point. The technology is somewhat simplistic, but its usage is revolutionary, a shift in manufacturing strategy that may account for both the decrease in car bombs and suicide attacks this summer, and the increase in IED deaths.

Though military officials are quick to refute the insurgency is growing, the methodology behind IED attacks is clearly in expanse. Flying in the face of intense offensives, IEDs have killed twice as many soldiers this summer than they did a year ago. In response, foot patrols and convoys are thrust into a constant exercise in attention to detail, forced to take full accountability for their surroundings. Any piece of refuse and any stretch of road has the potential to explode at any moment, and more than once an hour, one does.

With unprecedented vigilance, the United States military forces in Iraq comb the streets in search of the soldiers’ number one killer. The vast array of what they might find is unknown and it’s always unclear how technologically advanced the device may be. Only one thing is for certain: they’re out there.

And they’re everywhere.