[lit-ideas] Re: Arrivederci, Mr. Bush...

  • From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 14:55:10 -0500

Paul wrote:

>One of the things that make it SOOO important to keep nukes out of these 
>maniac's hands is that, as we have seen in the past 3 1/2 years since 9/11, 
>there's NO one THING to strike back at. So... if AQ somehow managed to nuke 
>a city in the US, what would they do? I mean what would they REALLY do? 
>Short of nuking the ENTIRE Middle East and large parts of many other 
>countries [you know, to make sure they get ALL OF THEM], what is their 
>plan? Do they have one? What IS the strategic position taken in that 
>particular scenario. [my attempt at the political parlance].
>  
>

I suspect that's part of the reason behind the idea of making nations 
responsible for the terorist groups that operate with impunity inside 
their borders. But I can't see it as being very effective either.

First, if it were a coordinated nuclear attack and several US targets 
were struck, there woudl be horror and chaos as lack of information. Who 
was behind the attack? It could take weeks to determine or maybe never 
be known.  If Washington DC were hit, some relatively low-level 
functionary could be left in charge of our retaliation.

Plus we might suspect that a nation DID strike us, using the terror 
group as a cover. So we nuke North  Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran.  Then 
what wouudl China do? What would Russia do?

This could spiral into a general nuclear conflagration so easily. As 
soon as we were hit, other countries might decide this was their last 
chance to strike us before we retaliated against them, whether or not 
they were responsible. Then when it was over, our nuclear submarines 
woudl surface, notice the backhground radiation, and deliver the nuclear 
knockout to everyone who was left.

It rockets the imagination to think how one terror attack could snowball 
into planet-busting. Precisely why nations with nukes should decrease, 
not increase. Five monkeys with nukes are bad enough, let alone fifty.

Eric

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