WMD not actually that destructive

[Jason McCullough]

http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/0000000CA694.htm

David C Rapoport, professor of political science at University of California, Los Angeles and editor of the Journal of Terrorism and Political Violence, has examined what he calls 'easily available evidence' relating to the historic use of chemical and biological weapons.


He found something surprising - such weapons do not cause mass destruction. Indeed, whether used by states, terror groups or dispersed in industrial accidents, they tend to be far less destructive than conventional weapons. 'If we stopped speculating about things that might happen in the future and looked instead at what has happened in the past, we'd see that our fears about WMD are misplaced', he says.


This is just a I-told-you-so, as I remember people telling me I was totally wrong about this. Nyah nyah.

[Mike O'Malley]

Right, because in the past we didn't have weapons with near the lethality we do now. People haven't gotten physically tougher over the last few thousand years (or more radiation-resistant), but our weapons are a hell of a lot deadlier.

[Sebmolo]

With the occasional exception (http://www.bhopal.net/index.php), I agree. 9/11 had nothing to do with WMD, to make the obvious point.

[Arasmus]

He's half right. CB weapons used to date haven't had the kind of fatality rates you would expect upon hearing the phrase 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'.

But there are agents in existence that have not been used that are extremely fatal and could be catagorized as WMDs. Most of these are persistent type nerve and choking agents. Blister agents, while usually not fatal, can incapacitate victims for up to 48 hours or more.

Of course almost all of these agents are difficult to manufacture, store, transport and deliver without a substantial infrastructure. Delivery is really the hard part of the equation. Most agents work best as an aerosol and require a high dispersal pattern. This problem can be alleviated somewhat if the target area is in an enclosed space.

A lot of this is off the top of my head. It's been a while since I was in the army and had to worry about a CB attack. :D But if anyone wants more info on these agents they should visit www.fas.org. It's a nice site for all kinds of military weapons information.

[Jason McCullough]

Yeah, that's the point: if used absolutely perfectly you'll kill people. But if you just chuck it and use regular explosives you'll cause a lot more damage.