From: Kevin Freels (megaquark@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Jun 18 2003 - 09:17:11 MDT
When I read that a nuclear terrorist attack is inevitable, I experience a
sense of deja-vous. (did I spell that correctly?)
I don't know the ages of the people on this list, but I would assume that
most of us are old enough to remember the cold-war and the pessimistic
beliefs that we would all die in a nuclear holocaust.
I will grant that the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the increased
technologies needed to produce them makes it very likely that it will
happen, but a terrorist organization that can get their hands on a nuke,
smuggle it into the country and detonate isn't exactly stupid.
They are aware that there is no possible way they could wage a full-scale
war and win on their own.
One concern I have is that MAD doesn't apply when the enemy is willing to
die. But I don't think that the leaders of these organizations are willing
to die for their causes. Theysee themselves as too important. They know our
capabilities, especially now. They may be able to get one or two nukes in,
but we could make the entire middle East a radioactive waste land!
They also know that there would be almost no support for such an attack and
the entire world would go after them in response to an attack that would
hurt, but would not be mortal to us.
So we come back to the cold war. The cost of a nuclear attack is higher than
the benefit. For this reason, we may never see such an attack. In the
future, people may once again look back and wonder how we got through this
period in our history without such an attack.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Lorrey" <mlorrey@yahoo.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 12:52 AM
Subject: RE: London Calling
>
> --- Ramez Naam <mez@apexnano.com> wrote:
> > From: Spudboy100@aol.com [mailto:Spudboy100@aol.com]
> > > What impact., on this list, would such an attack
> > > have, if it were devastating, in the number of casualties?
> > > Would such an attack, change anyon's mind on public policy
> > > that have been so ellucidated on this list, over the last 2
> > > months? Would anyone here embrace the W as a result, or
> > > curse him for not being vigilant against such an attack?
> >
> > A better question is how we feel about current US policies in the
> > context of future terrorist activities.
> >
> > Personally, I fully expect a nuclear (not just radiological)
> > terrorist
> > attack against the US in the coming 10 - 20 years. I believe current
> > US foreign policy makes this event more likely rather than less. So
> > I'm already aghast at Bush.
>
> I'm aghast that you're aghast. Of course, many groups around the world
> are dismayed at Bush's "we're not your punching bag anymore" attitude.
> That is to be expected when so many groups have learned from past
> administrations that terrorism and extortion pays and that the US, esp
> the US left, is quite willing to be a punching bag for being the
> pre-eminent 'imperialist dog' exploiting the masses of the second,
> third, and fourth worlds.
>
> While many on the left would like to adopt the French attitude (and it
> is not surprising that the biggest America haters here in the US are
> also francophiles) that it is our fault for our imperialist attitudes,
> what is being ignored is that the Islamist agenda implicitly accepts
> that Islam must adopt the same imperialist agenda that their ancestors
> of the Andalusian era took for granted. Are the anti-imperialists
> against America similarly against muslim imperialistic aspirations?
>
> I fully expect the terrorists to use nukes within a decade, and I also
> fully expect to see the left blaming America for its own policies.
> However, the day they use a nuke, I think we'll see a significant
> change in the muslim street attitudes toward the terrorist groups. The
> only thing that would prevent terrorists from nuking would be if they
> were smart enough to realize that it would lead to their total undoing.
>
> =====
> Mike Lorrey
> "Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
> - Gen. John Stark
> Blog: Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com
> Flight sims: http://www.x-plane.org/users/greendragon/
> Pro-tech freedom discussion:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exi-freedom
>
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