[NA] Iraq's New Bomb Detector

[bluesky74656]

From Slashdot:

"According to the New York Times, more than fifteen hundred remote sensing devices have been sold to Iraq's Ministry of the Interior, at prices ranging from $16,500 to $60,000 each. The devices are used for bomb and weapon detection at checkpoints, and have no battery or other power source. Sounds great, but according to a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack they work on the same principle as a Ouija board — the power of suggestion. He described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod. Even though the device has been debunked by the US Military, the US Department of Justice, and even Sandia National Laboratories, the Iraqis are thrilled with the devices. 'Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs,' said Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior's General Directorate for Combating Explosives."

I'll refrain from comment to keep this out of the spin zone.

 

[SCCutler]

!
!!
!!!

 

[mantakos]

Crazy gullible Iraqi military.

Oh wait...:

http://www.physics.smu.edu/~pseudo/sniffex.html
The Irving marketers behind Sniffex – which looks like a cross between a large cigarette lighter and a TV antenna – say the device can pinpoint explosives from a football field away.

But in a test by the U.S. Navy, Sniffex didn't register when two trucks passed within 20 feet, hauling a half ton of explosives. The testers said the antenna was "extremely susceptible" to a phenomenon that has also been linked to Ouija boards.

That didn't stop another part of the Defense Department from buying eight of them – for nearly $50,000...
​

-harry

 

[Trapper John]

Crazy gullible Iraqi military.

Oh wait...:

http://www.physics.smu.edu/~pseudo/sniffex.html
The Irving marketers behind Sniffex – which looks like a cross between a large cigarette lighter and a TV antenna – say the device can pinpoint explosives from a football field away.

But in a test by the U.S. Navy, Sniffex didn't register when two trucks passed within 20 feet, hauling a half ton of explosives. The testers said the antenna was "extremely susceptible" to a phenomenon that has also been linked to Ouija boards.

That didn't stop another part of the Defense Department from buying eight of them – for nearly $50,000...
​

-harry

Sounds like the Quadro Tracker has been repurposed...

The Quadro QRS 250G "Detector" (the Quadro Tracker) is a plastic box with an antenna which was sold by Quadro Corp of Harleyville, South Carolina, as a detector of just about anything: drugs, weapons, golf balls, even lost coon dogs. Wade Quattlebaum's invention sold for about $1,000 each. Some schools and government agencies spent as much as $8,000 for the device which turns out to be good only at detecting suckers who can be easily parted with other people's money (i.e., our taxpayer dollars). Sandia Labs of Albuquerque, New Mexico, took one apart and discovered that there is nothing inside. It probably costs about $2 to make.

http://www.skepdic.com/quadro.html


Trapper John

 

[bluesky74656]

What really gets me isn't that someone managed to sell the military a piece of equipment that doesn't work. That's entirely plausible.

It's the quote from the Iraqi general at the end of the article that really blows my mind.

'Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs,' said Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior's General Directorate for Combating Explosives."

 

[mantakos]

...'Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs'...

What concerns me is the possibility of this magic getting into the hands of terrorists. I thought that's why we went into Iraq in the first place?

BTW, I've seen enough Harry Potter movies to know that the active ingredient in "Activia", namely "Bifidus Regularis", is magic-based. I'm not certain, but I believe it's a spell that makes the victim poop his pants. Whatever it is, I'm not touching that stuff. And if the terrorists get hold of enough of it all at once, it's going to be ugly.
-harry

 

[ScottM]

What concerns me is the possibility of this magic getting into the hands of terrorists.
-harry

Does anyone think it an interesting coincidence that a guy named HARRY is worried about bad people using MAGIC??

 

[Richard]

Heads are gonna' roll. Who's gonna' mop up this mess?