At 05:22 PM 3/4/01 +0100, J. van Baardwijk wrote:
>>A ship is possible - but in many ways is much more problematic than an
>>ICBM. With a ship, you need a loyal *and* suicidal crew.
>
>That may not be that big a problem, as long as your followers are fanatical
>enough.
Unfortunately, we have not yet invented the "fanatacism" detector. Thus,
a certain amount of trust is involved. Usually, volunteers for suicide
missions are often drummed up in a fit of nationalistic/patriotic/religious
fervor. Maintaining that fervor for a weeks-long voyage would be very
difficult, and would run the serious risk of your fanatics defecting and
taking your bomb with them. The same is true to a lessor extent for
taking the bomb in a suitcase over an airplane (to say nothing of the
intensive security measures involved.) In both cases, you also have to
hope that you have not been infiltrated with a spy of some sort - as the
transportation involved necessarily creates a window for counter-terrorism
interference.
The truth be told, there is nothing like killing millions of people with
the press of a button for sheer eficiency, risk-assessment, and
cost-advantage.
This is not to say that the USA will never be threatened by a suitcase nuke
shipped by boat or plane. All I am saying is that if I wanted to nuke
the USA - I *know* what method of delivery that I would choose.
You know, I find it positively *AMAZING* that so many gun-control-loving
liberals can be making arguments like this. After all, banning guns won't
prevent murder by knife - yet you're completely unconcerned by that.....
and somehow the argument that a missile defence won't stop nuclear
weapon-strike-by-boat is incredilby persuasive.
>Can you give us a summary of that debate?
Yes, Colin Powell has suggested replacing the current economic sanctions
with a set of "smart sanctions" - covering only products with a clear
military purpose and boosted enforcement of said sanctions.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"The point of living in a Republic after all, is that we do not live by
majority rule. We live by laws and a variety of isntitutions designed
to check each other." -Andrew Sullivan 01/29/01
