Posted on 12/11/2011 10:46:20 PM PST by Arthurio
Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential hopeful, wants you to know that as commander in chief he is ready to confront one of the most nightmarish of doomsday scenarios: a nuclear blast high above the United States that would instantly throw the nation into a dark age.
In debates and speeches, interviews and a popular book, he is ringing alarm bells over what experts call the electromagnetic pulse, or EMP — a poorly understood phenomenon of the nuclear age.
The idea is that if a nuclear weapon, lofted by a missile, were detonated in outer space high above the American heartland, it would set off a huge and crippling shockwave of electricity. Mr. Gingrich warns that it would fry electrical circuits from coast to coast, knocking out computers, electrical power and cellphones. Everything from cars to hospitals would be knocked out.
“Millions would die in the first week alone,” he wrote in the foreword to a science-fiction thriller published in 2009 that describes an imaginary EMP attack on the United States. A number of scientists say they consider Mr. Gingrich’s alarms far-fetched.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I’m gonna go with Dr Bill Wattenburg and say that the liklihood of a high altitude EMP detonation over the US is highly unlikely for a number of reasons, whereas the real danger lies in a nuke, low tech dirty bomb, or germs coming in through our porous ports and shipping traffic.
Just breathtaking. The NYT has spent decades insisting that missile defense cannot work and shouldn’t be attempted.
Now they state we can shoot down an ICBM anywhere on Earth and there is no question about it.
Meanwhile as they mock the capabilities of North Korea, recent word is NK is developing an ICBM to hit the United States.
Liberals are evil evil people.
Whenever republicans attempt to address a serious problem the media tells everyone there is no problem at all. Poof! Happens with nuclear missile threats, inner city poverty and crime, communism, terrorism, illegal immigration, social security going bankrupt, Fannie Mae,etc.
They are really dangerous.
This Slimes author(Broad) is a moron..
This threat is extremely possible.. not only possible but probable..
How easy it has been to move almost anything across the Mexican border..
Could be these bombs are here right now.. waiting..
Dirty bombs, clean bombs, neutron bombs, even EMP bombs..
also in URP... even the Vatican.. The Chinese and Russians are in bed with the Sand Monkeys for decades.. Probably will USE them to do the deed..
I am surprised it has not happened already..
Yes, I thought the left had declared missile defense to be the figment of Ronald Reagan’s imagination. Now they’re saying it works 100% of the time?
“a poorly understood phenomenon of the nuclear age.”
It is NOT poorly understood, it is IGNORED.
I did a college internship at the Fort Belvoir Engineering Development Laboratories in 1965. We conducted research on the EMP effects upon Army vehicles. I have since tracked R&D on the subject. The military is well prepared to handle EMP on critical systems. The civilian world...not so much.
If this could happen above the U.S.A,wouldn’t that be possible above any country in the world?
I'd certainly prefer a $1 going to that rather than some of Newt's other ideas in the past.
To Newt - spend effort on Art1S8, NOT on regulating industry (EPA), regulating energy (Dept of Energy), regulating education (Dept of Ed).
EMP, NOT federal Health Care.
Read “One Second After” by Richard Forstchen.
The book is a novel about life in the US after EMP. Not pretty...
Thats my nightmare scenario. Nukes in shipping containers, half a dozen ports simultaneously.
The arabs would be the willing patsies and take the brunt of whatever vengeance we could muster, but otherwise we'd be side-lined for a generation. With us out of the picture or at the least our influence removed from the equation the rest of the world goes mad.
D-Wave just sold a 128 qubit quantum computer to USC. It’s encased in one of the most perfect electromagnetic vacuums on earth.
I would think that would be free of the threat of EMP, but who knows.
D-Wave’s been at it for 12 years. That is a LOT of cash. A lot of cash. The unit they sold USC is cooled to 2 milliKelvin. That’s 200 times colder than interstellar space.
I wonder how much sustaining cash they got from Uncle Sugar.
What a typical NYSlimes misleading Headline
Iran, we know, has been working on getting an EMP bomb and a rocket that could deliver it for some time. I would imagine China, Russia and maybe No. Korea are too.
It’s prudent to be aware of all possible scenarios and have some semblance of a reaction plan.That’s what a competent leader does - not wait until something happens.
If we get a dirty bomb incident, I would suspicion “enemies domestic” who need an excuse to declare Martial Law...
They should do some research.
http://www.onesecondafter.com/
http://www.onesecondafter.com/pb/wp_d10e87d9/wp_d10e87d9.html
http://www.decodedscience.com/emp-attack-feared-by-newt-gingrich-as-national-threat/6762
I read it too. Scary stuff. I believe Newt wrote the introduction to the book.
I met the author last Wednesday night at a WWII documentary here in Morganton, NC not far from his home near Asheville. The guy is smart and did a ton of research on the topic with nuclear physicists.
America better wake up.
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