What in the HELL is an IED?

I ask this because they are forever mentioning that soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan by IED's. I wondered to myself, what the hell is an IED? I read the term, IED, all the time when I read reports of our efforts over there in that country. Soldiers are killed in their tank because they hit an IED. So what the hell is it?

Dictionary.com defines IED as:

WordNet - Cite This Source

ied

noun

an explosive device that is improvised [syn: improvised explosive device]

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

Oh, so its a bomb.

So why in the HELL can't you just say BOMB!?!?!

When did it become inappropriate to call a bomb a bomb? It doesn't even take as many syllables to say bomb as it does to say I-E-D. So what the hell is the advantage of calling a bomb and IED!?!

The only possible explanation would be that you want to convey that its a crappy, homemade bomb. So just call it a homemade bomb. There's nothing gained by trying to say its an 'improvised explosive device'. That's just dressing up the obvious. Some guy wrapped up some nails and sharp rocks in a glass jar full of gas and fertilizer. Its not a good bomb, just some lethal junk put together and buried in the road. And all of that gets the fancy title of 'improvised explosive device'.

Its not an Improvised Explosive Device!!! Its a homemade bomb! Christ, just call it what it is. You make up a fancy description for something that's actually crude and ugly. Why polish a turd? A bomb is a bomb. A crappy bomb is a crappy bomb.

Just call it a bomb!!!