Death by Stupidity times a thousand

This is one of the most stupid and dangerous things I have ever read.

Iraqis are using a useless divining rod (sorry, redundant) to detect explosives.

The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints in Iraq. But the device works “on the same principle as a Ouija board” — the power of suggestion — said a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod.

Still, the Iraqi government has purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, known as the ADE 651, at costs from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Nearly every police checkpoint, and many Iraqi military checkpoints, have one of the devices, which are now normally used in place of physical inspections of vehicles.

This is not just stupid but FRAKKING stupid. They are literally waving sticks at cars in an attempt to detect explosives. Wow.

The Iraqis, however, believe passionately in them. “Whether it’s magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs,” said Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior’s General Directorate for Combating Explosives.

Like the 2 tons of explosives that made it through a checkpoint last week and killed 155 people in the heart of Baghdad.

The English company that sells these expensive, utterly useless devices is responsible for these deaths and all others that will occur because these Iraqi morons don't know anything.