In a briefing on Nov. 8, Rowe, who oversees Iraqi police training,
disputed an assessment by the Iraqi Interior Ministry. The ministry has
procured more than 1,500 hand-held devices, costing up to $60,000 each, and
employed them at checkpoints throughout Baghdad. The ministry has conducted
an investigation into the $53 million procurement contract.
"We have not been able to find for our forces an assured, highly
probable technological solution that allows us to detect explosive devices,"
Rowe said.
The dispute erupted in wake of a series of mass-casualty strikes by Al
Qaida in Baghdad. The Interior Ministry has blamed police for negligence and
suspended dozens of officers.
ADE-651 has been endorsed by the Interior Ministry's director of
operations to combat bombings. Maj. Gen. Jihad Al Jabiri, who claimed to
know more about explosives than anybody in the world, said the device
has detected explosives in vehicles.
"Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects
bombs," Al Jabiri said.
The device, shaped like a pistol, contains an antenna meant to move in
the
direction of explosives. ADE-651, with interchangeable cards, was
designed to detect explosives and weapons.
U.S. Army officials said the device failed numerous trials in Iraq. They
said ADE-651 has a high false alarm rate and was triggered by a range of
substances, including perfumes.
The U.S. military has urged the Interior Ministry to conduct human and
canine inspections of cars at checkpoints. But they said the ministry
was under heavy pressure to reduce the lines at police and military
checkpoints, particularly in the Baghdad area.
"It is a difficult issue," Rowe said. "All over Baghdad and other
cities, there are people trying to get to work and those checkpoints are
there to secure the population. This is the tension of an open society."