>>A Soviet nuke had as much probability of killing you as a terrorist nuke.
The Soviets knew how to make nukes, for one thing. Al Qaeda does not. They might be able to buy nukes, but I really believe that if they had one, they'd have used it by now.
But, let's assume they have one. To get maximum effect, it would need to be deployed from an airplane or helicopter over a city (I assume the delivery would involve suicide on the part of the deliverer). So they need an airplane or a helicopter, which, of course, they could hijack, but these days airspace is restricted and planes that stray off course get escorts and if they don't cooperate, will be shot down.
It's doable, and it's thinkable, but it would still only be one or a few.
In contrast, the Soviet Union had lots of nukes, lots of planes, lots of missiles. Their military operated in plain sight, and did not need to sneak around pretending to be ordinary people. They were capable of inflicting a lot of damage in a short period of time.
This is important because of the resilient, self-regenerating tendency of American institutions. The way that Al Qaeda operates, they can only do a lot of damage to smallish targets sporadically. The targets clean up the mess and it's just a blip to overall well-being.
Let me give you a real life example of the resilience of human institutions. My niece started medical school on Grand Cayman in August. Well, she was going to start, but Hurricane Frances went directly over Grand Cayman, and the storm surge actually covered the entire island. The entire island was underwater, and every structure on the island was damaged by wind and water.
The med students were evacuated prior to the hurricane, and are now in Portland, Maine, where a temporary med school has been set up. The medical school on Grand Cayman is being rebuilt. Plans are to resume classes on Grand Cayman in 2005.
Now, I ask myself - suppose Al Qaeda blew up Washington DC with a nuclear weapon. Would that mean the end of the federal government? No, that institution would regenerate and reconstitute itself. And people would still invent things and want to patent them, and somewhere, assuming we survived, my husband would still have a job. I actually assume that the same office building would still be there and after it was decontaminated, if necessary, he'd go back to his same office.
In contrast, had the Soviets decided to start WWI - this area would be unliveable for the rest of our lifetimes and several lifetimes to come. Even so, our government would have regenerated, just somewhere else. And eventually, they'd set the Patent Office back up. ;^) |
