“Dogs are the best detectors,” Oates said at an Oct. 20 news conference at JIEDDO headquarters in Arlington, Va.When dogs are teamed with small dismounted teams of U.S. and Afghan troops, they are capable of detecting 80 percent of IEDs, he said. “That combo presents the best detection system we currently have.”

Since it was created in 2006, JIEDDO has eagerly sought out every possible technological tool it could find in government, industry and academia to locate and remotely detonate IEDs, which have caused the majority of U.S. casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. So far it has spent nearly $17 billion on new technologies and training programs.

...

Training and educating soldiers is critical in the fight against IEDs, Oates said. It is also the “most underappreciated” piece of JIEDDO’s portfolio. U.S. troops from the get-go face a huge disadvantage in this war because they lack knowledge of local language and culture, Oates said. They also “carry enormous ignorance” about what motivates locals to collaborate with the Taliban or al-Qaida and help them build and bury IEDs. “This is a complicated challenge for us,” Oates said.

BAGHDAD — Despite major bombings that have rattled the nation, and fears of rising violence as American troops withdraw, Iraq’s security forces have been relying on a device to detect bombs and weapons that the United States military and technical experts say is useless.

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 an idea I can get behind!

I'm going to say *law *waronterror

Adding video to channels (Law, Waronterror) - requested by Zonbie.

That bomb detection device must be one of the most ridiculous succesful hoaxes ever.

"The ADE 651 is a hand-held wand with no batteries or internal electronic components, ostensibly powered by the static electricity of the user, who needs to walk in place to charge it."

WHAT THE FUCK?!

>> ^Tymbrwulf:

This is an idea I can get behind!


Same, I can just see myself cooing over the dog that is seeing I am a terrorist, "Who's a good boy, who's keeping us safe from terrwowists!" Dogs would have to be the smartest, most effective AND least intrusive idea that I can ever consider, it is even less intrusive than a metal detector! Why didn't they do this instead? O right, because there is no company that controls the dog population lobbing the government...gotcha.

The "inverted photo" of the naked woman is a forgery.

civil rights are *humanitarian

Adding video to channels (Humanitarian) - requested by Trancecoach.

But we democratically voted in our "leaders" so shouldn't we have the best systems already in place already? The government tells me the backscatter x-ray is harmless and good for America, so obviously this dog nonsense is just that: nonsense.