Bomb dowsing for dollars to continue in Iraq

After numerous complaints that the ADE651 bomb detector is little more than a high tech, very expensive ($16-60k) dowsing rod, an investigation by the Iraqi government has determined that the problem is that half of them were defective or fakes.  Their solution is to not only keep using them, but to replace those they found to be be non-functional.

According to an article in the February 23 Washington Post, "...an investigation ordered by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki found the devices - used primarily at Iraqi checkpoints - generally work, though some were fake or ineffective. Those would be withdrawn from service and replaced with new versions, according to a statement by government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

"Iraq is still investigating individuals involved in the procurement and import of the devices and plans to sue the manufacturer over those that did not work, he said.

"The statement did not say exactly how many of the wands would be withdrawn from service, but al-Dabbagh later told The Associated Press that only 50 percent of the gadgets were operational"

But The National, a United Arab Emirates online paper, has a slightly different take on the story in an article posted last month.

"Aqeel Turaihi, the inspector general of the ministry of interior’s anti-fraud watchdog, said he had raised concerns that the ADE-651 bomb detectors did not work and had been purchased as part of a corrupt contract.

“There are strong indications of corruption in the deals to buy these explosives detectors and I submitted a report to that effect to the minister of interior and the parliamentary integrity commission,” he said in an exclusive interview.

“I referred [in my report] to a buying process marred by suspicions over the equipment and the efficiency and value of the contracts. There were senior officials involved in these transactions."

“These detectors are not working well. There is something seriously wrong with their performance and now Baghdad is facing more bomb attacks.”

Since there are separate anti-fraud units in each Iraqi ministry, it's unclear, at least to yours truly (who is admittedly unschooled in the ways of this newly established and often byzantine bureaucracy) who has the say over how this will come out. But since this contract was for some $85 million one wonders just how much obscurity was built into it.

Perhaps the Iraqi government needs to invest in a fraud detection wand I've been developing.  The BS651, expected to retail for $23k, is still in the development stage and requires special training, but a newer model with flashing lights and perhaps even batteries, is coming out as soon as anyone complains that the original model is less than totally effective.

(Apologies to the reading audience for using the suffixes k and million on prices; but this is due less to sticker shock than the fact that in dealing with such large figures my  word processor is running low on zeros.)