Posted on 11/03/2001 2:49:26 PM PST by samtheman
I hate foreboding thoughts -but- if the search for Ben Laden where to continue for a couple years (all the while giving Ben Laden more time to acquire his own nuke or two/suitcase type/for taking to U. S. soil) -would it then be time for Mr Neutron? (Poohbah, you might have some thoughts on this. If God Forbid the United States finally has to resort to small, tactical nukes on varying groups of mountains - how would this playout? Is it reasonable to say that one particular type of nuke mighht be better then another ie. radiation/winds/kills only people type nuke? Or is it actually the case -that nukes can't be used at all -under any circumstances, because of the wind and because of the fact that the land area where any such nuke explodes, would be contaminated for 20, 50, 100's of years?)
Second, the issue is one of "can we afford the international intangibles associated with first nuclear use?" more than any specific issues of contamination.
Third, the contamination issue is still a problematic one even after all that.
The Plowshare Sedan crater is still off-limits at the Nevada Test Site, and that shot was in 1962. (Plowshare Sedan was a "peaceful" test, intended to examine the efficacy of a nuclear device for large-scale excavation work.)
Smallpox is of particular concern because of its potential to spread quickly. In a military exercise this past summer called Dark Winter, researchers conducted a simulated smallpox attack on Oklahoma City. The epidemic quickly soared out of control, spreading to 25 states and millions of people.
Right. So why hasn't it been done? People in the know have been warning about this for at least five years.
Oh. I forgot. The globalists and eco-wackos think there are too many people on the earth today. Hmmmm...
Same here. Perhaps smallpox vaccine can, if need be, be easily and quickly produced??? (anyone??)
They are really whipping up everything they can, IMO. Every little tidbit seems to deserve DAYS of discussion. It's almost like a fad.
Discouraging news. Thanks for the info, Chase.
Alibek goes on to say that they(Russians) developed more powerful strains of the virus. I suspect that this could mitigate the effectiveness of current vaccines.
There is a reduced amt of vaccine because of the irradication of the disease. Also, only a portion (who knows how much) of the vaccine which currently exists is still viable.
Lastly, when considering mass vaccination, you have to realize that the immunosuppressed (HIV, transplant folks, chemo patients) run a much higher risk of becoming very ill from the vaccine itself. This isn't the only thing to be considered when weighing whether to give mass vaccinations, but it is one of the significant things to give credence to when considering whether to vaccinate someone for smallpox.
Ken Alibek's book is one I really feel ALL Americans should be reading right now. Information is a good defensive weapon. There are risks in life and none of us gets out of this alive. But we are all better off knowing what we may face. I strongly recommend this book. Even if half of it is true (and I suspect most if not all of it is) we must make ourselves aware of what these terrorists are capable of and therefore enable us all to take careful measures, where possible and appropriate, to counter them.
Alibek goes on to say that they(Russians) developed more potent strains of the virus. I suspect that this could mitigate the effectiveness of current vaccines.
There is a reduced amt of vaccine because of the irradication of the disease. Also, only a portion (who knows how much) of the vaccine which currently exists is still viable.
Lastly, when considering mass vaccination, you have to realize that the immunosuppressed (HIV positive, transplant folks) run a much higher risk of becoming very ill from the vaccine itself. This isn't the only thing to be considered when weighing whether to give mass vaccinations, but it is one of the significant things to give credence to when considering whether to vaccinate someone for smallpox.
Ken Alibek's book is one I really feel ALL Americans should be reading right now. Information is a good defensive weapon. There are risks in life and none of us gets out of this alive. But we are all better off knowing what we may face. I strongly recommend this book. Even if half of it is true (and I suspect most if not all of it is) we must make ourselves aware of what these terrorists are capable of and therefore enable us all to take careful measures, where possible and appropriate, to counter them.
To a degree, this may be true. But I think the media is doing us a favor on this - already the CDC is getting out ahead on this one, with a plan that they're acturally communicating to us. Also, we as a people, have GOT to inform ourselves about what we could conceivably face from the terrorists. I believe we must be self responsible to learn what we may be facing, and on this one, I think the media is playing a positive role. Their harping is producing real time results - the CDC and HHS knows they are being held accountable and this fact alone - their not wanting to be caught w/their pants down - works to our benefit.
You know, Boris, one of the things I wrote in the margins of Ken Alibek's book as I read it, is very similar to your point - our general hubris in thinking we, with our superior attitudes regarding our own scientific capabilities and our assumptions about the "limited understanding and capabilities" of our enemies is very much a part of what has contributed to our current "behind the eight ball" situation. Sometimes we're too smart for our own good. And, we assumed that our future (now current) enemies would play by some minimal moral standards. We now face an enemy which has proved it has NO moral standards. It definately does not lend itself to a "home field" advantage for us. BUT we are a resourceful and clever people, and we will turn this situation around.
In the autumn of 1863, beset as always by office seekers, Abraham Lincoln's physician told him that he was suffering from varioloid, a mild form of smallpox. "Is it contagious?" asked the president. "Very contagious," the doctor assured him. Lincoln seemed oddly pleased. The doctor asked why. "There is one good thing about this," the president told him. "Now I have something I can give everybody."
Who in their right mind would've thought a human being would've ressurected something like SP on purpose?
The people behind these insideous schemes must be exterminated just as thoroghly as an infestation of cockroaches.
Nothing less will do.
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