Re: Al-Qaida may have nuclear weapons

["Gerry Blackwood" <gpblackwood@justice.com>]

Howard,



With all due respect to you Howard and Sam Cohen's who's politics

I am not impressed with. First there is no evidence that there

are any loose nukes. Second, there is no evidence of any RA 115s

and 116s are missing in the Russian arsenal no matter what

Congressman Curt Weldon thinks. General Lebed spun his story so

many times that you would need another 10 forces of G to stop the

spinning. While Cohen is sometimes three cans short of a six

pack. Yes we have problems with the NPT and proliferation of

fissile materials, while we need to be doing a better job of

securing nukes and ensuring there security. Yes, of course it

possible to steal one, but I am not losing sleep over that one.

Fissile material? You bet I am worried..



I will also make this point as well, not all WMD are equal. Not

to underplay the seriousness of WMDs and many are very serious

threats in the hands of terrorists, but we have to place these

weapons in perspective. Nuclear weapons are of course

significantly more threatening to life and order than either bio

and or chemical weapons at this time. Biological weapons may some

day destroy life on a massive extent, but they are still

theoretical and turning this into and effective WMD weapon is

extremely difficult. Of these threats proliferation of

conventional weapons and unsecured fissile (nuclear) materials

are the most serious.  



To  contrast all threats into a single coined phrase "WMD"

not just confuses our assessment of threats, but our decisions

about what actions and costs to take to counter them.

 

The biggest WMD threats facing us today is fear and panic. 



With regard to Iraq and Saddam. Howard if all things were equal

you would be right. But all things are not equal and the order of

battle in this war on terrorism was taken out of order while the

intel on Iraq was very selective. Just two examples,



Global Trends 2015 by the National Intelligence Council,

 

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/globaltrends2015/



and



The Worldwide Threat in 2000: Global Realities of Our National

Security by DCI Tenant.



http://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/speeches/2000/dci_speech_020200.html



While we are pinned in Iraq wasting lives and resources AQ is

running around in its own domain. It just ticks me off to no end.

I and many of my peers and friends voted for George Bush and I am

one of those Conservatives that now believes he needs to be

defeated. Not just because of Iraq. But lets add the outing of

CIA Officer Val Wilson, the playing round with our nuclear

policies and treaties. The departure of out Wilsonian Foreign

Policy to a preemptive war policy. For those who do not know what

preemptive war is and how its actually applied, I highly

recommend you study combat tactics instead of the RNC's talking

points. Let's add the out of control spending by both Congress

and this Administration. Tax Cuts? Bull... What good is any tax

cut when spending is out of control.?



Are we any safer today than prior to 911? The answer is no! I

think the following best explains my over all opinion.



http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=217442&category=LETTER&BCCode=OPINION&newsdate=2/10/2004



Gerry Blackwood



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