Baghdad bomb detectors left unused 'due to political squabbles'
Officials tell MEE that advanced x-ray systems sat in warehouses during devastating IS attacks because of power plays at top levels of government
BAGHDAD - Dozens of advanced bomb-detecting vehicles remained unused during 16 months of vicious Islamic State group attacks in Baghdad due to political power games, ministerial rivalries and poor bureaucratic oversight, government sources have told Middle East Eye.
Iraqi officials and members of the parliamentary security and defence committee told MEE that the interior ministry had bought 40 M60 Rapiscan Mobile Eagle scanning vehicles and 54 smaller VACIS M6500 inspection systems three years ago.
Both use x-rays to detect suspicious objects within a vehicle, and are several steps up from handheld detectors in service with Iraqi security forces.
But they remain parked in interior ministry warehouses despite a murderous campaign by IS which has killed thousands of civilians, including 323 in an attack in the Shia area of Karrada on 5 July - by far the biggest of its kind since the US-led invasion of 2003.
Twelve Rapiscans have since been deployed to the six entrances into Baghdad, but all others remain in storage.
"These vehicles are very advanced. The plan was to deploy the big vehicles at the entrances of the city and use the smaller ones in patrols in the street," said Adnan al-Assadi, a prominent member of the parliamentary committee and a former deputy interior minister involved in negotiations to buy the vehicles.
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Unfortunately, things like this, not uncommon, add to the disaster over there.
