Little Baghdad

Anti-terrorism tactics for use in Iraq and Afghanistan are being tested and tried in "Little Baghdad", a facility sitting on the Yuma Proving Grounds in SW Arizona. It's 'real' name is the Joint Experimentation Range Complex.

It's commander, Army Col. Stephen Kreider describes it's purpose as, "...deal with improvised explosive devices and to re-create the atmosphere of the Middle East, both in terms of Iraq and that arena and Afghanistan," Kreider said. "The type of structures and type of road networks are common to those types of environments, so that's what we created here."

On top of that, the DOD is wanting to make the site the National Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency Testing and Training Site, and has already invested $10 million to that end. Colonel Kreider says he expects up to another $25 million before the summer's end.

So how does "Little Baghdad" prepare men and women to deal with the real Baghdad? It's all about IED's: Hundreds of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are hidden around the mock village and roads.

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The IEDs are hidden everywhere - in light poles, under bridges and near roads. A three-foot piece of curb on one road was taken out and rebuilt with a bomb inside and then replaced.

"Don't ever think those guys are stupid," Ricky Douglas, a test manager and IED expert, said of the insurgents fighting American troops. "They are very creative."

To date, roughly 1000 service men and women have gone through Little Baghdad's streets and villages with the aim of better navigating the real thing.