As a partial list I submit the following as examples of the "collapse of our intelligence system":
Pearl Harbor Attack
The Korean invasion
The Entire Vietnam War
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Tet Offensive
The Yom Kippur War
The Iranian Revolution
The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
The Collapse of the Soviet Union
The Indian Nuclear Test
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
Bombing of the World Trade Centre in 1993
The 9/11 Attacks
WMD in Iraq
Boston Marathon Bombing
("All is known, all is exposed to those involved." –?)
"so this mysterious enemy can pop off nukes with abandon and leave absolutely no tracks?"
I submit that it is self-evident that the blast itself will "leave absolutely no tracks." Certainly not tracks that can be investigated, analyzed, and effectively reacted to in time.
"… a mysterious enemy which never reveals itself "
The Internet demands come to multiple establishment networks "over the transom." Al Jazeera, for example, has little interest in tracking down the source. Who would be doing the tracking down? The Muslim brotherhood which has already penetrated the inner sanctum of the White House? We cannot dismiss the treachery possible from a fifth column.
"the eventual military response would be absolute,"
Any subsequent military response would be at the cost of another American city.
"That’s reality."
That "reality" has failed so many times that my back of the envelope list demonstrates that it is hardly reassuring and certainly not dispositive of what the collective inventive minds of a army of devious jihadist can contrive. If I am wrong life is sweet, but if you are wrong…
Please remember, this scenario is simply to illustrate the absolute necessity of preventing Iran from getting the bomb. This is only one of the baleful consequences which flow from that calamitous event. Others have been discussed such as the destruction of the present balance of power in the Persian Gulf and the ignition of the nuclear arms race in the Arab world. The point of the vanity is that we should not permit ourselves to be distracted from Iran to Isis.
