Nerves of steel

I don't think I could do this:

Haqy Asaad scanned the twirl of wires running from the bleeding man's chest and saw what he was looking for: wires tucked into a pants pocket.

The man, twitching in the back of a pickup, had about 5 pounds of explosives stuffed into a homemade flak jacket, with wires jutting out in different directions.

Asaad, 38, a member of the Iraqi Explosives Ordnance Detachment, mouthed the same prayer he always recites at bomb sites: There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.

Then he pulled a Leatherman knife from his hip holster. One snip and the danger was over. A crowd of bystanders who were watching the drama Thursday morning from a safe distance erupted in applause.

Good article.