Now calm down Brendan,I dont think there was any ante semetism intended by the remarks made.
Israel is not likely to welcome such a gift of dogs,as if the project was going to work to any usable level it would already have been tried,the IDF are not amateurs at using dogs for all types of explosive detection work and this must have been one of the first thoughts when dealing with suicide bombers.
Sadly when events such as this take place many well meaning people with little knowledge offer ideas that dont work.
Suicide bombers will already be in the public areas before they are detected and whilst you may prevent them reaching their intended target,they will still be in a highly populated area and the end result will be the same.
Paul

From a practical point of view, this is what I see:
I am involved in narcotics interdiction and as a result of intercepting loads of narcotics, I come into physical contact with selfsame. I will, as a result of "popping a load" smell very much like the 200-300 pounds of weed I will find every once in a while. Do I want a narcotics detection dog walking up to me an nailing me in a less than convenient anatomical area because of what I smell like? Does the odor I am exposed to make me a smuggler? In same kind, the EOD dudes I know would not shine at all to meeting a K9 under similar circumstances because of their INCIDENTAL exposure to stuff that goes BOOM. Let's face it, you work in Burger King, you smell like fries, even if you are a cashier. On the surface, O.K. Taken the next step, don't see the parcticality / field effectiveness. Cuz we all know; if it don't work in the field, it don't work. (Huwah!) Correct me if I'm wrong.

I too saw a lot of problems with this. Its a huge logistical exercise to train and deploy that many dogs let alone train the handlers as well. It would take a person with a high level of bravery or comittment to handle the dog at a entrance to a public place like the incident that is aluded to in the original article. Surely a terrorist would simply set off the explosives when he saw the dog headed his way. If the terrorist was close enough for the dog to scent the charge in the first place Id say the handler would be close to be killed or injured by the explosion.

What would the dog do when it scented on someone who had been handling explosives legitmately during the day like a soldier in artllery unit or a sapper? Id think the smell would permeate the persons clothing. Public places in Israel are litteraly full of people in uniform comming and going to various militairy duties. There have been many terrorist attacks by arabs dressed as IDF troops and orthodox jews. (I just re-read az trooper post and see he made a similar point).

If its all a bit of a red herring I dont know why Uzi Landau would bother to give it legitmacey by commenting on it publicly. Yould think he would of run it by people involved with dogs in the army. I dont know about about the dog units in the IDF but dont believe all the hype about the Israeli army, some of their units are VERY average. Maybe he got dud advice.


Finally they whole idea hinges on the dogs ability to scent the explosives. Objects scent can
be masked and dogs can make mistakes. I personally know of a case here where a customs dog was used to examine imported articles that contained a large amount heroin and the dog didnt alert on any of it. These facts emerged latter in court proceedings. So if the dog couldnt scent when the article was 6 inches from his nose and the amount is in the kilos its reasonable to conclude hed have problems at a hundred meters or what ever on a breezy day.

The people who carry the explosives are gullible fools. The people who send them are the brains behind the opperation and it wont take them long to make enquiries about the abilities and failings of dogs and make adjustments to their evil plans.

These sucide bombing are going to be an ongoing thing and its only a matter of time before we see one in the west. No more 'meet and greet'/press the flesh for the president then. Dont worry about 'watching the hands' anymore, the secret service guys and every one else around will never know what hit them. The arabs wont be laughing about them anymore when its the king of jordan or saudi arabia who is on the receiving end of one. The components to make these bombs are widely availiable and theyre easy to construct, even more so in the west than in some hole in the ground in gaza or jenin. This being the case some counter measure is needed but maybe the dogs arent the answer at least not in the role in the article.

First off. Utilization would not be all that difficult. Checkpoints and perimeters can be and are worked. Dog have been used to detect explosives on persons, including weapons. The US Gov't sponsored several studies just to see how effective the dogs are in detecting explosives on a person. Can an odor be masked? Of course it can. Is masking the odor all that simple, not usually. The point is. It could be done, and they could be trained to attack the bomber with the intent of blowing the bomber up. Of course, the use would be limited to areas that would do the least amount of damage. As far as dogs missing a target. It happens every day, there are no perfect dogs, drug or explosive, the best we can do is train, and be able to predict a specific behavior, relative to an established proficiency level. Just as a note, that comment sounded a bit anti-semite to me as well. If you check you might find the center of the diamond world is actually Antwerp Belgium. Is it possible, Yes. Practical, quite possibly. Would there be an enourmous outcry, oh yeah. I'd sure volunteer my services to conduct the feasibility study.

DFrost

I agree with what you wrotr D'Forst. But at the end of the day, does it really matter if they blow-up, when the dog attacks? That is there intention anyway, so if there was a possiable way to identify a bomber, it may give some warning to the surrounding people, instead of none at all.

At the end of the day, it would only matter if they stopped the bomber from taking life and destroying property. Whether the dog singled out the individual and the bomber was taken out by a sniper or the dog attacked causing the explosion in an area that property and innocent people were not the victims as intended. Only then would it matter.

DFrost

Which is the greater evil type deal in this case.

Which is greater indeed?

DFrost

Good thread guys.

As I read the article, and as I understand the written intended use of the dogs, I don't think it is possible.

But, the article could be a little off. Easy for someone to mistake bomb searching and apprehending (in some situations) with search and destroy anti-bomber dogs. Especially for someone that doesn't understand the work. Say like a reporter or a fund raiser. . .