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posted by n1 on Monday July 25 2016, @08:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the made-a-killing dept.

When there is a real threat, security theater kills people.

For nearly a decade, anyone driving through one of Baghdad's many checkpoints was subjected to a search by a soldier pointing a security wand at their vehicle and watching the device intently to see if its antenna moved. If it pointed at the car, it had supposedly detected a possible bomb.

The wands were completely bogus. It had been proven years ago, even before 2013 when two British men were convicted in separate trials on fraud charges for selling the detectors. The devices, sold under various names for thousands of dollars each, apparently were based on a product that sold for about $20 and claimed to find golf balls.

Yet the Iraqi government continued to use the devices, spending nearly $60 million on them despite warnings by U.S. military commanders and the wands' proven failure to stop near-daily bombings in Baghdad.

It took a massive suicide bombing that killed 300 people in Baghdad on July 3 — the deadliest single attack in the capital in 13 years of war — for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to finally ban their use.

Source: Military.com
Related: July Baghdad bombings
ADE651 Detector


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @09:25PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @09:25PM (#380055)

    "once people are afraid to stop cracking jokes" - lol. Once "average" people are afraid to stop cracking jokes, you mean. As someone born in the 1980's and versed in science and technology I've been afraid for about 15 years.

  • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday July 25 2016, @09:36PM

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Monday July 25 2016, @09:36PM (#380061)

    The implausibility of a "peaceful protest" while the population is afraid broke my sarcasm detector.