British firms banned from exporting faulty bomb detectors to Iraq and Afghanistan

[cory777]

Source: telegraph.co.uk

British companies have been banned from exporting defective bomb detectors to Iraq and Afghanistan over fears they have failed to prevent hundreds of deaths.

By Heidi Blake
Published: 7:00AM GMT 23 Jan 2010

The Iraqi government is understood to have spent £53 million buying thousands of ADE-651 bomb detectors for use at its 400 checkpoints, but tests have since revealed that they do not work.

Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, banned the export of the devices to the two war-torn countries yesterday on the basis that they could cause harm to British or friendly forces.

The British Embassy in Baghdad raised concerns about the ADE-651 with Nouri Al Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, following three deadly waves of bombing in Baghdad in December.

The detectors, which consist of a telescopic antenna on a plastic wand, contain nothing more sophisticated than the type of antitheft tag used to prevent shoplifting, experts said.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/7056425/British-firms-banned-from-exporting-faulty-bomb-detectors-to-Iraq-and-Afghanistan.html

[Hubert Flottz]

1. They should turn the people selling those over to the Iraqi...

government.

[mbperrin]

2. Got to love you some capitalism! Don't worry! The "free market"

will solve itself! No need for the nanny government to step in!











If I need the sarcasm tag, you're not paying attention....

[drm604]

3. WTF?

Who the hell makes these purchase decisions?

ATSC, the British company which sells the devices, claims they use electrostatic magnetic ion attraction to detect guns, ammunition, drugs, explosives, human bodies and even contraband ivory at distances of up to a kilometre.

How the hell could an antenna on a hunk of plastic with a theft control tag detect this stuff?

Suppose it did work. All you'd know is that something on that list is somewhere up to a kilometer away. What good is that?

[drm604]

4. Wikipedia on the ADE-651

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE-651

[Arctic Dave]

5. I guess they didn't "get it", they were the bomb detector. Kablooey, look, Joe found a bomb

[boppers]

6. Dowsing is still accepted in Europe.

Ever wonder why Dawkins is so frothing about insanely stupid things being done in the name of superstition? Crap like this is why.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Duh? what the hell took them so long?

Maybe some of those corporate bigwigs should be sent there to walk around and detect landmines.

[Blandocyte]

8. Jesus H, these people have no shame

shoot them as traitors.