Iraq Archive

  • Magic wand bomb detector deemed fraudulent, inventor imprisoned

    Magic wand bomb detector deemed fraudulent, inventor imprisoned

    Posted on January 23, 2010 | No Comments
    Remember back a few months when news broke about a little device that claimed to detect different sorts of bombs? The ones that the Iraqi government spent $85 million on over the last few years even though American military commanders and the FBI stated that they simply don't work. Well, as we all assumed, the ADE-651 is a sham. It's just a dirty racket. Good thing that the British government finally caught on, banned the device and threw the inventor in jail. (He's out on bond as of writing) It seems that the heart of the device is ID badge-sized cards that are supposed to be used for detected different items. There are different cards for everything from TNT, plastique, to even money and elephants. However, as the Cambridge Computer Laboratory found out, these cards contain nothing more than a dumb RFID tag. Seriously, watch the BBC investigation video after the jump.

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  • The bomb detector that may or may not be hocus pocus

    The bomb detector that may or may not be hocus pocus

    Posted on November 4, 2009 | No Comments
    Let's move onto something a little more serious for a moment. There's a device that the New York Times highlighted yesterday called the ADE 651. It's a small, hand-held explosives detector, or so claims the company behind it, the UK-based ATSC. It's being heavily used in Iraq, and officials there swear by it. Meanwhile, American officials call the device about as effective and realistic as a Ouija board. It's rubbish.

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  • Man, the U.S. had a crazy cyberwar plan against Iraq (that it didn’t execute)

    Man, the U.S. had a crazy cyberwar plan against Iraq (that it didn’t execute)

    Posted on August 2, 2009 | No Comments
    How great is this: in 2003, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies had a plan on the books to launch a cyberattack on Iraq that would have zapped the country's money supply. In other words, Saddam Hussein wouldn't have had any money to pay his troops or whatever. Three cheers for destruction!

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