Right on schedule (from ethel)[US Rep. Steve] Buyer said Thursday that it's too risky to send
large numbers of ground troops into mountain
hideouts. Instead, small special operation forces
could fight their way into caves and bunkers and
plant timer-detonated tactical nuclear devices
powerful enough to bring down entire mountains. Good plan Steve! And then this quote from Buyer which must be the greatest (where 'greatest' equals 'stupidest') political quote of all time:"We shouldn't fear this discussion," Buyer said.
"There's such a stigma attached to the word
'nuclear' that people don't even think rationally." If his plan worked it would be bad enough, but probably it won't work. Here's a scenario: US special operation forces fight their way into the mountains carrying a bunch of small time delayed nuclear devices. Bin Laden's troops (acting perhaps on information from their high level ISI contacts) surprise the force (Haq anyone?) kill them all except one man who is released to tell the story, and take control of all the devices. One week later a major American city is destroyed and Bin Laden gives us one day to surrender or the next city goes up.
For a similar scenario that might really have happened, see here. I've seen this reported more convincingly, but I can't find a better link at the moment. Seems like many of the cruise missles Clinton launched in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) and the Sudan on the eve of his impeachment did not explode (go figure! shotty military contract work?) and that bin laden later sold these to the Chinese.
Gee, I wonder how many nukes "won't explode" when we drop them. All it will take is one.
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- jim 11-03-2001 2:14 pm
For a similar scenario that might really have happened, see here. I've seen this reported more convincingly, but I can't find a better link at the moment. Seems like many of the cruise missles Clinton launched in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) and the Sudan on the eve of his impeachment did not explode (go figure! shotty military contract work?) and that bin laden later sold these to the Chinese.
Gee, I wonder how many nukes "won't explode" when we drop them. All it will take is one.
- jim 11-03-2001 5:31 pm [add a comment]
no problem with the new cluster nuke
- Skinny 11-03-2001 5:40 pm [add a comment]