Is it worth it?

[thomasgeorge]

All my working life I have been involved in the saving of lives, first as an RN specalist in Critical Care and Emergency Medicine and for the last part as a Firefighter/ALS Paramedic. One of the less "nice" things I and all other Medical and Public Safety folks study is mass casualty managment--triage, N B C attack, etc. That little bit of background out of the way, For those who think that anything less than a total commitment to eliminating the terrorist threat is possible, consider this; an explosion of a 1 kiloton nuclear pit( that is the "trigger" which sets off a Hydrogen Bomb and is in fact an" Atomic bomb" in the true sense) would make the current destruction in NYC pale in comparison. 1 kilo ton is SMALL.Yet even a surface blast of this small a yield would be worse than anything you have seen thus far. Now, suppose a group gets its hands on a 1 megaton(thats the equlivent of 1 million tons of TNT) thermonuclear device, loads it on an airplane and flies it over a major city, anywhere in the world, and detonates it at around 8000 feet. Thats right almost 1.5 miles from the earth's surface.Under optimal conditions you can reasonably expect the following result: At a radius of 2.5 miles from surface level,the outrushing wind velocity is about 320 mph. Everything is vaporized. At 3.75 miles from ground zero winds have dropped to only 290 mph. Casualties so far are, for all practical purposes 100%. Because of the sudden increase in atmospheric pressure, hollow organs rupture. All structures are flattened. At 6.5 miles from ground zero the winds are still a brisk 260 mph. Fatalities at this range are in the 60% area. Large buildings collapse and highway bridges are damaged. At 10 miles from ground zero, combustables are burning, 2nd - 3d degree burns to exposed persons/animals, approx. 15% dead and 50% injured. I wont even go into what the larger devices can do, because , some would accuse me of making it all up, as the destruction the larger devices are capable of is almost impossible to believe. Genetically modified Anthrax has no cure. Fatality rates are almost 100 %. No antibiotic can treat it. Cocktails, featuring mixes of various strains of this "bug" have reported fatality rates in excess of 60%. Lets not even talk about modified smallpox, Hemorrhagic fever,boutlism and a few other unsavory items. Chemical weapons have a proven track record--Iraq 's current rulers really like them. They know how to manufacture and use them for greatest effect. All of these little toys from hell are out there and sooner rather than later some group of fanatics IS going to get their hands on them and use them. Now, is it worth the taking of what some have called "innocent" life to keep these things out of the hands of those who would, without a moments hesitation, use them against a city full of people? I , despite my lifes work of saving lives, say, "YES". If you dont agree, fine. But be aware, that by doing nothing or making only feeble and ineffectual attempts to stop the Orginizations who would use these things and the governments and citizens of countries who support the fanatics, you are insuring a return to locked borders,Isolationism and the eventual use of these weapons against a populated target. Hope you can sleep tonight. All this info can be verified simply by Looking it up. Its no secret. All major US cities Rescue and Public Safety departments have the facts and more besides. I am not trying to panic anyone. I am telling you what these weapons are capable of doing and trying to explain why I feel so passionate about removing those who would use them, even if in the process "innocent" people get killed. The US was ready to shoot down a passenger airliner filled with Americans to prevent a 4th plane from being crashed into a populated area, now why should we hesitate for one minute to do whatever is necessary to eliminate the threat posed to the entire world by a group of fanatics who would use infinitely more horrible things than a passenger jet full of fuel to kill hundreds of thousands? Simply saying "please" just ain't going to help. Tom

[DJ Dubovsky]

I agree Tom. I wish this were the perfect world but wishing doesn't make it so. Terrorism by it's very nature hides it's self among the very people they are supposedly fighting for, there by insuring their success because governments are usually unwilling to target the innocent. If attack does come, they can use the innocents as pawns to martyr thier cause. They care nothing for their people or their cause, they only care for their own perverted adjenda. They cowardly hide among the masses so they can escalate their dirty work without fear of repriasals while seducing more and more to thier cause and amassing more funds to do more damage. Where does this madness stop? Negotiations haven't worked so now what? Stand by and say please don't hurt us? While they build up the next attack with far greater weapons? That would be madness not to mention stupidity.
DJ

[Ed_L]

That's a real eye opener Tom. Maybe when people begin to understand why it must be done, there will be more support (not that there's not plenty now).

Ed