Nuking New York

Fred On Everything ^ | 18 March 2002 | Fred Reed

[SwinusMaximus]

Is Fred on target, or what?

[Bush2000]

Well, aside from his rather absurd conclusions that a nuclear blast might only level a few blocks and that Cleveland is slightly less-guarded than Manhattan (like it would matter), he's close. I think the problem with portable nukes is that we wouldn't know who to blame. It could very well be the Saudis ... or the Egyptians ... or the Iranians ... or whoever. The real question remains: If you're going to nuke these countries to slag, where do you stop?

[CGASMIA68]

"or what"

[neutrino]

If you're going to nuke these countries to slag, where do you stop?

a) After all moslems voluntarily become Hare Krishnas
b) After the Mideast is reduced to glowing radioactive slag
c) After half the nuclear arsenal is depleted
d) After 4:00 PM local time so it doesn't interfere with happy hour
e) After Hillary starts looking sorta cute.

Your choice!

[pariah]

Let's just say that you won't be hearing any similar sentiments being voiced on CNN, NBC, CBS or even FOX News. He is just saying what Bush and his team would LIKE to say, but can't, for fear of appearing 'hysterical'. I like Fred. You can get his weekly column e-mailed if you visit his site.

[RightWhale]

Looks pretty close from RightWhale's point of view. One nuked city would be tough on the whole country. 3 nuked cities would be disaster and very difficult to deal with, but not total devastation. Recovery would come, but in time, not quickly. And that is America, which would be able to cope with such things to a degree. Any other country would be devastated.

[boris]

Both can happen; i.e., the Soviets or Chicoms or North Koreans can indeed be planning to nuke us and various terrorists also. Indeed, it would be a feasible gambit for, say, North Korea to plant a nuke and provide a false trail to some terrorist group.

Either or both.

I happen to believe that it is now inevitable that an American city will disappear; the only questions are 'when' and 'which city?'

Robert Heinlein, writing just after WW II, predicted that America would have to become a police state, with checkpoints at all major cities--every point of entry--to preclude smuggling in a bomb. IMHO it is amazing it has taken this long for his prediciton to come (almost) true. I believe the piece was If This Goes On....

--Boris

[pariah]

Click HERE for Fred's homepage.

[pariah]

Ok, type in your browser www.fredoneverything.net/index.html. (And back to HTML Bootcamp for me!)

[onedoug]

With the Kennedyesque sweep of the Cuban missile crisis, if we're so hit, we'll regard it as an attack on the United States by all 7 countries named in the recent nuclear posture review. Let them know the consequences from the outset. That should at least diminish the odds a bit.

[meenie]

By then you have lost most of your mideast oil. Then you can nuke China and eliminate the thingies that you buy at Walmart. Then nuke Russia for sending over a barrage and destroying our major cities.

Oh shucks, I better get out and finish digging my nuclear fall-out shelter in. Life is so great since we started the war on terror using nuclear technology. That Saddam insane sure started something when he started playing around with that microwave oven and the CIA saw him irradiate the cat.

[Bush2000]

Dude, I accept your proposal. Where's the damned button again?

[elbucko]

"The Moslem world would do well to bear this in mind. There are lines one doesn't cross,...."

The mistake of this country has always been to assume its enemies are "rational".

Were the attacks on 9/11 committed by "rational" minds? I think not.

[america-rules]

The more that comes out the more we see Bush's actions making more and more sense !

He'e putting the bastards on notice and I bet Cheney is telling them in person !

[pariah]

Click HERE for Fred's homepage.

[america-rules]

Try this !

[Bush2000]

Oh shucks, I better get out and finish digging my nuclear fall-out shelter in.

When I was a kid, my brother and I cut through a neighbor's yard on the way home from school and found a curious looking hatch cover; in fact, my brother tripped over it. Otherwise, we never would have noticed it. Turns out that the former owner of the property had had a bomb shelter installed around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Being curious kids, we looked inside and, aside from the awful stench of years of mildew and tarnished metal, it was the last place on Earth that I'd ever want to be. Ever. As far as I'm concerned, if there's a nuclear war and I can't be on a sailboat off the coast of New Zealand, I'm setting up a lawnchair at ground zero, baby. It's the only way to fry.

[Bush2000]

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Cheney is informing the Arabs that we will hold them all responsible if another atrocity occurs on American soil.

[motor_racer]

The essence of a defensive posture is decentralization. Centralization is evidence of the assumption of an offensive position. The intensity of centralization of our economy (in New York) and the command and control structure of the government (in Wash. DC) creates obvious weaknesses in a world in which technology has tipped the scales in favor of defense. The world is non-linear. Consider the results of perhaps half a million dollars spent to carry out 9-11 versus the billions to prosecute the war in Afghanistan.

[Zorobabel]

I think that is the reason the Nuclear Posture Review was "leaked" to the press. It was the administration's way of telling the world exactly what Fred said, and scaring the crap out of certain regimes, who might be having idiot fantasies about getting away with nuking an American city.