Proliferation terror: Time for a new deterrence strategy

Worldtribune.com ^ | 12 March 2005 | LTC Joseph C. Myers

[Barbarian6]

All the critics of the Bush Strategy have it wrong, the basic strategy is sound; where it needs to be strengthened is in the area of deterrence. The Bush strategy statements in Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction really fail to warn others, whether they are friend or foe, from proliferating technologies to second or third parties that may result in a catastrophic event on U.S. soil. Needless to say a nuclear detonation in a major U.S. city would have incalculable, far-ranging global reverberations beyond the direct physical destruction. Therefore, what is required is a new statement of U.S. proliferation deterrence that addresses what the U.S. response might entail in the event that a catastrophic WMD attack occurs on U.S. soil as a result of an asymmetric, terrorist strike....

That statement roughly formulated should say to effect: “If you are a state sponsor of terror, with or without a WMD research base; or are an avowed enemy of the U.S., and you have a public policy that espouses the hope and bent for the destruction of the U.S.; you clandestinely proliferate (buy or sell) WMD technologies outside international agreements and inspection regimes, then you are subject to being immediately held strategically culpable should there be a catastrophic WMD event inside the U.S...."

[Barbarian6]

This is a great article, I hope someone reads it in Wash DC

[Wolfhound777]

“If you are a state sponsor of terror, with or without a WMD research base; or are an avowed enemy of the U.S., and you have a public policy that espouses the hope and bent for the destruction of the U.S.; you clandestinely proliferate (buy or sell) WMD technologies outside international agreements and inspection regimes, then you are subject to being immediately held strategically culpable should there be a catastrophic WMD event inside the U.S...."

Exactly. We should respond in kind immediately. Maybe then, these governments will clean the trash out of their backyards.

[Sender]

I've always thought about how to deter people like al Qaeda and the rogue Chechens from using WMD. They publicly profess that they want to die for the jihad. They think dying for jihad is the ticket to heaven. So how do you deter against that? Mutually-assured destruction only works because Americans don't want to die and Russians don't want to die. As a result, war is very unlikely.

It's especially difficult since al Qaeda has apparently thought about our probable responses and accepted that. I remember one jihadi post, maybe from Zawahiri that said something like "we have considered the probable consequences to humanity and have found it acceptable."

[omega4412]

We need to strongly imply to the world, both friends and enemies, allies or not, that the U.S. policy and relations become "tabula rasa" in the aftermath of a catastrophic WMD attack inside the U.S.

We need to strongly imply that US policy is not the only thing that will become "tabula rasa" in the event of a WMD attack on the US or its forces abroad.

I'd promote this LTC.

[Just A Nobody]

"This is a great article, I hope someone reads it in Wash DC"

Reads it...they wrote and delivered it in the SOTU address January 29, 2002: President George W. Bush
Our nation will continue to be steadfast and patient and persistent in the pursuit of two great objectives.
First, we will shut down terrorist camps, disrupt terrorist plans, and bring terrorists to justice.
And, second, we must prevent the terrorists and regimes
who seek chemical, biological or nuclear weapons from threatening the United States and the world.

So long as training camps operate, so long as nations harbor terrorists, freedom is at risk. And America and our allies must not, and will not, allow it.

These are but a few excerpts from the SOTU in '02. These "journalists", & I use the term loosely, are plagiarizing the President for all intents & purposes.

When I am feeling uneasy about the world, I read the Presidents speeches. They always make me feel better.