The Bushies didn't care about terrorism, but many others (like Gary Hart) did:
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), CNN, 9/10/01:
"North Korea or any other regime, thinking about their future would have to think twice before launching a missile attack on the United States.
We could identify the source of a threat and we could counterattack vigorously and decisively.
The difference between that type of attack and someone carrying across a suitcase full of biological weapons is that we -- it would be hard for us to retaliate."
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), NBC’s Meet The Press, 9/9/01:
"Missile defense would protect us from virtually nothing.
It will not protect us from cruise missiles. It will not protect us from something being smuggled in.
It will not protect us from an atom bomb in the rusty hull of a ship coming into a harbor.
It will not protect us from anthrax…
…all of which the Defense Department says are much more likely, much more likely threats than somebody sending an ICBM with a return address it on, saying, we just struck you, knowing that'll result in immediate annihilation."
Tom Bigler, Wilkes Barre Times Leader columnist, 9/9/01
"...our nation is in far greater danger, not from a random incoming nuclear missile, but from an innocuous-looking visitor carrying a briefcase and walking through major traffic centers.
It is almost impossible to recognize a terrorist at this stage.
But the briefcase could contain vials of such samples of biological warfare as a smallpox virus."
Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, 9/7/01:
"The Bush administration is seeking $18 billion for missile defenses against rogue nukes, but it can't find a few million to keep bomb matriel out of the hands of terrorists.
Never mind that U.S. intelligence agencies are much more worried about a terrorist's suitcase bomb than they are about a nuclear missile from Pyongyang." |
