This New York Times article is making the rounds in the Skeptical Community. Apparently, a major tool in the arsenal of Iraqi security forces is a high-priced, bomb divining rod. Seriously. The article reads like a satire of AltMed woonackery, except we are not talking about herbal remedies for the grumbly in your tumbly. We are talking about keeping innocent people from getting blown up.

The American military does not use the devices. “I don’t believe
there’s a magic wand that can detect explosives,” said Maj. Gen.
Richard J. Rowe Jr., who oversees Iraqi police training for the
American military. “If there was, we would all be using it. I have no
confidence that these work.”

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.

Dale Murray, head of the National Explosive Engineering Sciences Security Center at Sandia Labs,
which does testing for the Department of Defense, said the center had
“tested several devices in this category, and none have ever performed
better than random chance.”

. . .
“I don’t care about Sandia or the
Department of Justice or any of them,” General Jabiri said. “I know
more about this issue than the Americans do. In fact, I know more about
bombs than anyone in the world.”

Oh yeah, the purchase of these divining gizmos may have involved suspicious overpayments and non-competitive contracts.

Iraqis should not swear "by" these detectors. They should swear at the detectors and the people pretending to keep Iraqi citizens safe.

*Potentially athletically inappropriate butt slap of thanks to Skepchick Jen.