From: "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Corrected French history (was RE: Deadlier Than War) Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 21:45:34 +0100
At 16:33 17-03-03 -0600, Dan Minette wrote:
> What risk would that be? The only action he is involved in is posting > Bush-regime propaganda to a mailing list; what risks he is exposing > himself to by doing that (other than having his arguments shot to > barrels time and time again)?
He lives in the DC area.
With all those security measures in place, and with all that military hardware in position around DC, it is probably one of the safest urban areas in the country right now... Given all those security measures, chances are that I am taking more risk than him right now.
Precedent. DC is a strategic target. You know, I'm rather surprised that an employee of the Dutch _Ministry of Defense_ would have difficulty with the concept of a 'strategic target', and suspect that you may be unsubtly trying to troll the Americans on this list again. But, in the spirit of trying to fill what may well be a perilous gap in the Dutch education system: (*sigh*)
DC was targeted by Muslim terrorists before: the attack on the Pentagon, where John *works* (did it completely escape your notice that if he had been in another section of the building he works in he might have been killed that day?) and the failed terror plane attack that was allegedly heading for the White House. John is living and working in a severe-risk area of this country. He works in a building that would be a _direct strategic target_ during any armed conflict with this country.
By your argument, American citizens in Juneau, Alaska should be horribly concerned because they are currently defenseless from Iraqi terror attacks. I'm sure they're not.... Juneau simply isn't a strategically valuable part of the country. The areas of the US that would be targeted in an attack are our capitol and certain key cities. New York is on the list and so is DC. The reason for this is that certain targets are more valuable than others. Attacking, say, Alaska would lack both shock and military value.
And, you've already posted elsewhere that **nothing** can stop terrorist attacks. Heightened defenses will probably do nothing to stop a terror attack, and may not even stop a well-planned military one if it were fast enough. Considering all of these facts, please explain how you justify your opinion that JDG is in "...probably one of the safest urban areas in the country right now"? As far as I can see, that's a crock.
As soon as Iraqis start saying "Kill the Dutch Infidels", and burning your flags and leaders in effigy I'm sure you'll have something to worry about. Since that doesn't seem to have happened yet, it seems infinitely more likely that your country isn't viewed as an important enough enemy of Iraq despite your support of the US.
Let's see. The Netherlands is supporting the US, which makes it a potential target. I am stationed at an Army base that is the largest one in the southern part of the country, and which is home to an entire brigade. Adjacent to the base[*] there is a dual-purpose air field: part of it is in use as a regional civilian airport (Eindhoven Airport), with flights to and from cities all over Europe, and part of it is in use as an Air Force base (Welschap Air Force Base, the largest of the three Air Force bases in the south), which functions as a hub for much of Dutch military transport (both road and air transports). It is currently also being used by the US military for their air transports of troops and equipment to the Middle East.
In a straight line, I only live a few kilometers from said locations. So, whether I am at work or at home, if the worst-case scenario happens (a nuclear attack), I'm history.
Oh, but Hussein doesn't have weapons of mass destruction, right? So you have nothing to worry about!
And since it's the American forces currently using your airbases that you have a problem with, don't worry. I'm sure the Iraqis don't understand what a strategic target is either.
Jon
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