Baghdad's bomb detector duds

Iraqis often ask why al Qaeda suicide bombers driving vehicles packed with explosives into Baghdad are able to pass unsuspected through so many checkpoints before blowing themselves up outside government ministries, killing and wounding hundreds.

During the past year, it has become clear that there is a simple reason for this and it explains much about the weakness of the Iraqi state.

The truth is that keeping bombers out of Baghdad is, to say the least, undermined because the main bomb-detecting device used to find explosives is a proven fake.

The Government paid large sums for the detector, called a "sonar" by Iraqis, though it comes without a power source - and supposedly receives this from the man holding it, who is meant to shuffle his feet to generate static electricity.

Useless though it is, the sonar, a black plastic grip with a silver-coloured wand out the front, is the main method by which suspect vehicles in Baghdad are checked by soldiers and police. If arms or explosives are present, the wand is meant to incline towards them, in the same way as a water diviner's rod.

What is striking about the bomb detector, officially known as the ADE-651, is that it has been repeatedly exposed as useless by government experts, newspapers and television. It was originally produced in Britain, but the company's managing director was arrested on suspicion of fraud and its export has now been banned.

The only electronic component in the device is a small disk, similar to that attached to clothes in high-street shops to stop people taking them without paying. Although each sonar costs US$50 ($68) to make, Iraq spent US$85 million on them in 2008 and 2009.

Despite being exposed as worthless, they remain the main device for detecting bombers before they reach their target. An Iraqi police chief said privately that the police knew their detectors did not work but went on using them because they were ordered to.

The presumption is that somebody was paid a bribe to buy the sonars and does not want to admit they are junk. Unsurprisingly, bombs which rip through the heart of the capital have passed through many checkpoints undetected.

- Independent