Free Republic

We hear highly placed officials and political appointees make pronouncements that "America should do everything" in its power to protect itself from terrorists but we have already decided that we are unwilling to do the only thing that would have clear effectiveness in protecting us from terrorists. The effectiveness of protective measures descends as: Removing the wheat ( terrorists ) and the chaff ( innocent members of the group the terrorists belong to ). Perhaps 75-90% of Americans would reject this "you can't sort them with 100% assuredness so evict them all" option. I'd would currently reject this myself which...

Some experts fear that terrorists are trying to develop thermobaric and fuel-air bombs which can be even more devastating than conventional devices. The Canadian defence research and development agency DRDC is taking the threat so seriously that it is testing thermobaric devices itself in an attempt to develop defences against them. And the US Marine Corps is using computerised war games to devise tactics that could help minimise casualties if insurgents in countries such as Iraq use thermobaric weapons in attacks. The devices use a small charge to generate a cloud of explosive mixed with air. The main explosion is...