Martyrdom-Prone Jihadis
Saddam Hussein, though he boasted that he had the capability to be eminently destructive to those who opposed him, did not actually possess weapons of mass destruction. The United Nations had been treated to an expose of Saddam Hussein's diabolical plans by George W. Bush's administration when Colin Powell, against his better judgement, was dispatched to lecture on the hypothesis-turned-reality that there were moving caravans of nuclear materials and laboratories full of deadly pathogens floating through the desert on wheels, undetected.The plan was, obviously, to give the American public the indelible impression that Saddam Hussein, that truly mendaciously evil man, had intentions beyond mass slaughter through conventional means, but that he posed a dire and direct danger to America itself, however improbable that might seem. If not America itself, then its European allies, and American troops stationed in the Middle East, who must be protected at all costs. Those costs would include an invasion of Iraq, to rescue Iraqis from the tyranny of evil.
An invasion which, with America's reliable (and gullible) allies, would take no time at all, to sort things out and set things to rights. Above all, Iraq would become the Arab world's first real and true democracy thanks to American temporary oversight, introducing that country to the delights of freedom and opportunities never before imagined. The new world of republican democracy teaching the old world of antique regency how to suck eggs big time. Which set the stage for a grand display of atrocities as one Islamic sect set upon the other, settling old scores.
But that's Iraq. Now, in Libya, the discovery of a number of casually neglected sites that represent military stockpiles of uranium offer another story. Another country, another ruthless and dedicated purveyor of terror and mayhem, erstwhile ally-cum-enemy. This is the Middle East and North Africa, after all, Arab and Muslim countries for whom yesterday is as near and dear as today, and old animosities and tribal vengeance are as vibrant and necessary as the air breathed there.
Niger yellowcake meant to be maintained under a regimen of strict security lest it and its deadly potential for refinement into nuclear-weapons-grade be accomplished, simply left to moulder and seethe. Causing, according to the newly-alerted tribeal Bedouin living nearby, any number of dreadful birth defects in the babies born in the general vicinity.
Iran might have been amenable to taking the yellowcake off Moammar Gadhafi's hands after he assured Western nations that he no longer harboured the ambition to become a nuclear state.
And of course, al-Qaeda affiliates would have been more than a trifle interested, even eager to acquire it as well, for their fledgling ambition also to become nuclear-armed. Whether some of the depots were discovered for what they contained, and whether they were depleted of their stock may yet to be determined. Discovered, however, were some ten thousand drums with a total capacity of two million litres rather carelessly stored, the barrels rusting.
The IAEA has been alerted and is in the process of arranging for those depots to be safeguarded in their desert dumps. Presumably, it is unknown where the blueprints for developing nuclear weapons obtained from the estimable and ever-so-accommodating A.Q. Khan might be located. These are irritating little details that may or may not be sorted out in days to come. The public may or may not hear further on the subject.
Weapons of mass destruction? Presumably lethal gases and deadly disease pathogens fall into that category, should the means for delivery be secured; in some cases poisoning municipal water systems would do quite well; one such was a source of the Black Plague that historically decimated Europe on several occasions, after all. Such scourges occur naturally from time to time, but there's no gainsaying that diabolical plans to deliberately impose such horrors could not succeed.
And of course, the ultimate achievement, the procuring of nuclear warheads to tip ballistic missiles. Now there's a wet dream for the growing community of dedicated martyrdom-prone jihadis.
Labels: Iraq, Libya, Technology, Terrorism, Traditions
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, September 27, 2011
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