So, if I was a terrorist and I wanted to buy a nuke, where could I get one from? For years we’ve been hearing about shoddy security of nukes in former Soviet republics. But no one appears to have grabbed one so far (aside from Dr Evil). In fact everyone who wants one seems to think its more viable to develop it themselves (Iraq etc.). And these guys aren’t short on cash - they have oil revenues. So what’s the problem? You’re a former Soviet general living on the bones of your butt, paid a pittance and some guy with a beard and a turban wants to pay you a stupidly large amount of money for a warhead. So why hasn’t this happened?
And yes, Zenster, I’m of the opinion that the worst is over. If the next best thing al Qaeda can do is send small amounts of anthrax (if indeed it was them), then they don’t have many arrows to their quiver.
The US has been bombing Afghanistan for a week. The Taleban are really annoyed. But, no signs of more plots, bombs, planes, fuel tankers nor crop dusters.
(Frankly, I sincerely hope you don’t get to say ‘I told you so’. But I honesty don’t think you will.)
Trust me Dave, I hope I’m wrong too. I just happen to think that the only reason we’re seeing a lull in the terrorist attacks is because we’re bombing the snot out of their headquarters. I hope like Hades that we are able to apprehend bin Laden and his band of scumbags, especially Mullah Omar. However, please remember that (as I think someone here mentioned previously) the terrorists have no schedule. The very nature of terrorism is cowardly and requires no timetable to achieve its ends. If fact, quite the opposite is true. The unexpectedness and unpredictable occurrence of terrorist acts is what magnifies their impact.
It is one of the central reasons why I advocate overwhelming force to be used. There is no form of realistic engagement that one can have with such amoral scum. Your reply must have the subtlety of a hammer blow to gain any notice. It is not so much that all they respect is force (however true that may be), but more that sheer force of violent will is the only functional reply to such maniacal evil. You do not pause to negotiate with a slavering rabid dog that is about to attack you. The glazed look in its eyes is signal enough that you should shoot it in the skull or bludgeon it unconscious with a club.
Similarly, we must continue to club bin Laden and Al Qaeda without pause until they are neutralized. Any break in the action merely facilitates their own ends and no such thing must be allowed. To permit the misery they have imposed upon the Afghan people to make us falter in our retaliation is to be blackmailed by yet one more act of terrorism. Do you honestly think the Taleban have any compunctions whatsoever about putting their supposed countrymen in harm’s way? Mullah Omar has already stated his willingness to have all Afghanistan obliterated rather than acquiesce to our demands. What does this tell you? We need to understand (if it is at all possible to comprehend the demented thought processes of a terrorist) that they will stoop to any level in order to achieve their ends.
It is a central reason I praise the incredible quality of America’s military technology and its soldiers. If bin Laden crowds school children around himself as a shield, we have snipers who can pick him off at hundreds of meters. However, to make our forces fully effective, we must not constrain them with unrealistic limitations that cripples their ability to properly carry out an assigned task. Look what happened in Vietnam when our troops were repeatedly sent to take a hill in order to clean out the enemy only to be commanded to fall back afterwards. I believe that pausing for Ramadan is exactly this sort of fragmented strategy. We had better learn from Vietnam and pursue these vermin with an unmitigated assault upon them.
As to the anthrax. There is the definite possibility that this bioterrorism is being spread by Al Qaeda, but the chances are extremely slim that they have manufactured the spores. Repeated reports of the spores being in weaponized powder form strongly indicate the complicity of another hostile nation like Iraq. Al Qaeda does not have the infrastructure to support the technology and facilities to manufacture such a biotoxin. Therefore, I do think that more attacks will happen. The timetable is not readily apparent because that is exactly how these cretins operate. Why sacrifice some carefully placed cells when security is still at a high level? Just wait a month or two, like maybe during the vile Christian holiday soon to come and strike at another high profile target. This is how terrorism works and it is why massive and overwhelming retaliation is the only correct response.
US Newsless and Some Other World’s Report is now claiming that the Pentagon folks are whispering that Tim McVeigh was actually an Iraqi agent :rolleyes: . Please, can’t we just admit that Junior feels he has to clean up all of his daddy’s messes and be done with it? So, apparently, even our domestic terrorists aren’t really what they seem? :rolleyes: