Radical Idea #2: Cell Phone Jamming in Iraq

Radical Idea #2: Cell Phone Jamming in Iraq

Our troops are being blown up by IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) in Iraq, right?

Many of these devices are set off by cell phones as US troops pass by, right?

There exist cell phone jamming devices with ranges of more than 10 meters (almost 33 feet).

Why not equip our miltary vehicles in Iraq with these cell-phone jamming devices and disable the IEDs as they drive past?

I can see an objection to this: our troops USE cell phones to ocmmunicate with HQ.

Well, perhaps they could find a way to schedule communication times, or if they needed to contact HQ right away, they could stop in a (hipefully) safe place and make the call with their jammer off.

Another objection some people will raise is that jammers are illegal in the US due to a 1934 FCC regulation protecting the "unihibted use of the public airwaves." (Check out this page of plans. NB: Don't make these things. They're illegal to use.)

Well, there are many instance sin which the miltary and the gov't has been exempted from such regulations. Plus, the primary application of this plan would be in Iraq, not in the US and thus not subject to FCC regs.

UPDATE: Looks like I am behind the times juuuuuuust a bit (http://tinyurl.com/2ueaw) in terms of this idea. Then again, if this has already been thought of (e.g. the Isrealis already do something similar), why hasn't it been implemented for our troops?