NPR story on explosive dowsing in Iraq

[Biff Starbuck]

NPR did a half-assed job of reporting on what looks like the ADE651 dowsing rod in use by Iraqi police and military to search for explosives, also referring to the Sniffex which is/was sold there. As Randi posted a few years ago, Sniffex failed the US Navy tests miserably.

This story reminds me of the "teach the controversy" BS about intelligent design. Dowsing rods have failed countless double-blind tests and passed none. What is the debate? Randi exposed the Quadro Tracker a decade ago, and what is being sold in Iraq is just a renamed version. Sandia National Laboratory tested the renamed version, MOLE. Now it has a new name and still does not work. These dowsing rods are risking the lives of Iraqi citizens, police, and military; not to mention wasting the reconstruction money of the Iraqi and US governments. Where is the debate NPR?


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111750111&ft=1&f=1001

Portable Bomb Detector Prompts Debate In Iraq

Iraqi authorities have spent millions of dollars to outfit checkpoints around the country with a simple tool they hope will result in fewer roadside bombings: a hand-held plastic grip with what looks like a transistor radio antenna attached. The curious gadget is supposed to sniff out explosive materials.

While Iraqi security forces say the device is effective, U.S. military experts suspect it is nothing more than a charade...

[JihadJane]

... wasting the reconstruction money of the Iraqi and US governments.


Someone's making money out of them so how can it be a waste? Wars are very profitable and woo from start to finish.

And not buying dowsing rods won't make much of a dent in the pallet loads of "re-construction money" going astray. It costs a lot to pay one's enemies not to fight you.

[Biff Starbuck]

Someone's making money out of them so how can it be a waste? Wars are very profitable and woo from start to finish.

And not buying dowsing rods won't make much of a dent in the pallet loads of "re-construction money" going astray. It costs a lot to pay one's enemies not to fight you.

How about selling more counterfeit bombs, and fewer counterfeit bomb detectors?

[Locknar]

Using such a device, and as a result putting troops (and all) in danger, is pathetic.

[Biff Starbuck]

Stay tuned for tomorrow's edition of NPR's debate series when we interview a local Arkansas man who believes a Nigerian prince will follow through with his promise to send $20 Million after the man wired $25,000 for taxes and fees to the prince whom he met through a generous anonymous e-mail offer. Police on the other hand say the man is the victim of a con artist. Who is right? We don't know, and we don't do research - We are NPR and just report the debate ;)


If only there was an educational foundation created by a former magician who could explain illusions, con games, and tricks for swindling people out of their money. Especially a foundation that has debunked this same fraud multiple times in the past. I guess I will just have to keep wishing. :D

[Biff Starbuck]

Honestly, I do normally think very highly of NPR, so hopefully this was just some cub reporter or an intern. Otherwise, they are slipping.

[Biff Starbuck]

So much for cub reporter. The byline is from the Baghdad Bureau Chief.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105678418

Quil Lawrence
Baghdad Bureau Chief

Award-winning foreign correspondent David Aquila ("Quil") Lawrence joined NPR in 2009 as Baghdad Bureau Chief. He has covered Iraq regularly since 2000, and reported from all the neighboring countries. His previous posting was Jerusalem, as Middle East correspondent for The World from Public Radio International and the BBC.

Lawrence began his career as a freelancer for NPR and various newspapers based in Bogota, Colombia, and covering Latin America. Other reporting trips took him to Sudan, Morocco, Cuba, Pakistan and Iran. Lawrence covered the fall of the Taliban in December 2001 and returned to Afghanistan periodically to report on development, the drug trade and insurgency. He recently published his first book, Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East.

A native of Maine, Lawrence studied history at Brandeis University, with concentrations in the Middle East and Latin America. He is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Arabic.

[Techowiz]

Biff,
Those bribes that ATSC pay have to spread over quite a lot of ground, don't be to disappointed.
regards

[Soapy Sam]

Think of it as evolution in action.

[jasonpatterson]

I'm not going to pretend that this was a good story. It had far too much of telling both sides of the story, as if both sides were equally valid.

However, they do mention that the US military was unwilling to comment at all for the story, and it includes several blunt comments about the worthlessness of the device. At least they are willing to put something on the air about it, I guess.

[Brian-M]

Think of it as evolution in action.


Great idea... let's hire dowsing proponents to find land-mines. Whether the dowsers actually detect the mines or simply step on them, the minefield will still get cleared. :)

[Sherman Bay]

Iraqi authorities have spent millions of dollars to outfit checkpoints around the country with a simple tool...Millions, eh? I want that contract! I've got some old plastic junk and some broken antennas around here; I can make up a few samples, and I'll sell them for half price and guarantee they'll work just as well.

I understand if you Xerox a picture of a pizza, fold up the copy and stick it in the device, it will find pizzas!

Millions, I say!

[Biff Starbuck]

I'm not going to pretend that this was a good story. It had far too much of telling both sides of the story, as if both sides were equally valid.

However, they do mention that the US military was unwilling to comment at all for the story, and it includes several blunt comments about the worthlessness of the device. At least they are willing to put something on the air about it, I guess.

I agree it was not terrible. I just was more than a little annoyed they did not seem to do much research outside of the few interviews, especially in light of the fact of the press report from Thailand about 3 police officers being killed using one of these type of dowsing rods.

[Skeptic Ginger]

Not enough politicians or news reporters are skeptics or critical thinkers. We expect a news reporter to be a fact checker. But just like Barbara Walters was fooled by Uri Geller's key bending trick, the reporters involved in this story likely aren't that sure dowsing is nonsense. Perhaps someone involved with the story was convinced dowsing is bunk, but I bet not everyone was.