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Yes you are the Great Cold War Warrior of the chairforce random thoughts Send a noteboard - 28/02/2010 06:44:31 PM
The tons of drugs that are smuggled into this country every year somewhat undercuts the argument that we can stop it at the border. Besides if you are setting it off in the San Francisco bay or the Hudson River you don't really need to go through customs. Primitive bombs are big but they are not so big that they couldn't fit in moderate sized pleasure boat and shielding isn’t really that complicated if you have room and can handle the added weight.

Things are far tighter than you think. Yes, drugs get into the country but that's not the same thing. Not even remotely.


See when you call me ignorant and then say such stupid things as this I can only shake my head and laugh. Tons of drugs cross our border every day and they only stop a fraction of it. I worked for Verizon and used to drive a large can back and forth across the border and all they ever did was once open the back doors and look inside. The van was full of equipment including large canisters of compressed air and all they ask is if I had any alcohol or fruit.

Yes, you could put a primitive nuke on a pleasure boat. Yes, you might be able to get that into a harbour without anyone searching it. Maybe. But who's going to set it off? North Korea (to keep to the original discussion) isn't going to use suicide bombers - that's not their culture. A boat sitting there for a long time while a timer counted down would be noticed. You couldn't just leave it floating. It would be far better to try and land it someplace and bring it in by truck.

You're also neglecting the intelligence community which watches for stuff like this and they do a decent job or more of it would have happened already.


The same intelligence agency that just recently allowed a man with bomb to board a plane to America even though his own father had warned us about him? Yes who would but an ignorant fool would doubt such an iron tight intelligence service. Look what a fine job they did with WMD in Iraq and sleep like baby knowing your are safe.

I'm not going to bother with specifics used by intel communities to track such things - they're too complex to get into here. Suffice to say that it is much harder than it is portrayed on TV.


Oh yes your secret knowledge. Can you find a weapon from a distance of miles if it is well shielded and you don't know it is coming or that you should even be looking for it?

We stop only a fraction of the drugs that come into this country, that wouldn’t really be good enough with nukes.

Straw man argument. There is an entire US community dedicated to receiving the drugs here, which is a huge part of why it succeeds. That would not be the case with a nuclear weapon.


Hollow argument. It only takes a few guys to receive a weapon. If NY is your target you don't even need that you can just set it off in port.

Hell you could simply put it in a cargo container and have it set to go off if it is opened. Smuggling a nuke into the country would be risky but it wouldn't all that hard and 911 taught us they can find people who are willing and able to pull the trigger even if they are sitting on top of it.

Perspective, perspective. North Korea doesn't have that kind of culture (although Kim wishes it did). The Islamists don't have nukes. They might be willing to use them if they did but even they would have to consider the response. Right now they are trying to win based on politics and lies. 'See? The Americans killed women and children!' Yeah. Sometimes they do, but usually when they're being used as either human shields or bait.


North Korea is collapsing and desperate I wouldn't put it past them to sell a weapon to the wrong people. But I don't think nukes getting into the hands of terrorist is the biggest threat I just think it is one that is to large to be ignored. When it comes to losing entire cities the risk tolerance has to be low.

The biggest problem with NK having nukes is if they can get an effective launch vehicle they will have Tokyo to add to Sol on their list of cites they hold hostage. If their regime is going to fall I wouldn't it past them to decide to take someone with them. Having a suicide pact with the USSR was bad enough but at least they were sane.

Set off a nuke and all that 'we have to protect the innocent' stuff gets set by the wayside. Suddenly scorched earth is a lot more palatable on the political stage. It's a can of worms Al Quaeda would probably open but would probably regret - albeit not for very long.

As for the Cold War I think you are the one misunderstanding. The Cold War mindset is not <snip>

This is laughable.

I GREW UP in the US during the Cold War. Our schools tested air raid sirens twice weekly and we were educated as to where fallout shelters were.


And where exactly do you believe I grew up? I am only a two years younger then you so sorry that card doesn't play.

I was an airman in the Strategic Air Command at the end of the Cold War before the fall of the Berlin Wall. I targeted nuclear weapons for B-52 bombers and we were the second Air Force Base in the world to receive operational B1-Bs during my time there. I had a security clearance that involved my friends and family being interviewed by FBI agents and worked behind a vault door with an internal sally port in an underground bunker guarded by SPs with automatic weapons and grenade launchers.



I was a Sargent in United States Marine Corps during the Cold War. I trained to fight the communist and how to move through areas that were hit recently been hit by nuclear weapons. I drilled in NBC warfare on a regular bases. I had security clearance as well and had to pass through multiple layers of security to get work. They only had M16s not grenade launchers but hey I figure a Marine with M16s still outmatches an airman with grenade launcher.

I was on a rapid deployment team and kept a complete set of combat gear for every climate from jungle to cold weather in my closet and was considered on 24 hour notice to deploy.

My brother worked in intelligence in the army and a good friend of mine worked intel for CENTCOM in Florida.

So What?

You're trying to tell ME what the Cold War was and was not? Sorry bucko. I lived it. And I'm willing to bet that you didn't.


Sorry dude you lose again.
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No Palin was simply cover for the "we just have to accept Iran will get the bomb argument" - 23/02/2010 02:26:45 PM 454 Views
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well hell then why not just sel them nukes and get it over with - 24/02/2010 02:33:00 PM 403 Views
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It's a classic, you should. - 28/02/2010 06:19:21 PM 471 Views
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Sheesh! - 23/02/2010 02:11:34 PM 563 Views
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Views on him tend to be polar - 23/02/2010 04:06:04 PM 548 Views
I was just talking to Lupine about how I like your posts, but I'm gonna make an exception here. - 23/02/2010 09:28:44 PM 460 Views
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Oh, it was on AIM. - 24/02/2010 01:13:07 PM 525 Views
Should've been on wotmania Skype chat. - 25/02/2010 12:47:42 PM 376 Views
Here's an article in response to Zakaria's article - 23/02/2010 03:19:41 PM 495 Views
I like that article, actually. - 23/02/2010 03:58:39 PM 396 Views
Re: I like that article, actually. - 23/02/2010 04:22:27 PM 395 Views
I don't believe they can be stopped - 23/02/2010 10:37:47 PM 388 Views
One thing he forgets... - 24/02/2010 12:19:12 AM 412 Views
Iran is a thorny problem - 24/02/2010 05:38:09 AM 418 Views
I still don't believe North Korea harmless. - 24/02/2010 06:59:15 AM 517 Views
I never used the term 'harmless' - 24/02/2010 10:01:14 PM 452 Views
Fair point, sorry. - 25/02/2010 12:45:47 PM 504 Views
No worries - I was just making sure you understood my position - 25/02/2010 05:19:10 PM 384 Views
Re: No worries - I was just making sure you understood my position - 28/02/2010 02:30:26 AM 518 Views
Re: No worries - I was just making sure you understood my position - 01/03/2010 03:53:58 PM 396 Views
A carrot without a stick is just a free carrot. - 02/03/2010 08:01:23 AM 496 Views
It's not a carrot/stick thing at all - 02/03/2010 04:29:00 PM 490 Views
Maybe I'm just out of the loop, but it doesn't seem that way. - 05/03/2010 01:02:57 AM 538 Views
They can hit Tokyo - 25/02/2010 06:10:44 PM 412 Views
So? - 25/02/2010 07:01:37 PM 563 Views
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Well, I KNOW you're ignorant about a lot of things and this shows it. - 25/02/2010 08:56:45 PM 423 Views
Yes you are the Great Cold War Warrior of the chairforce - 28/02/2010 06:44:31 PM 461 Views
Oh I'm sorry - so you're not so much ignorant as idiot. - 01/03/2010 03:48:32 PM 343 Views
Is that what taught you in chairforce school loser boy? - 01/03/2010 04:33:53 PM 438 Views
Nope, it was the internet actually - 02/03/2010 04:31:36 PM 373 Views
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I agree, even if for different reasons. - 24/02/2010 01:01:00 PM 351 Views
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about - and it shows to anyone who does - 24/02/2010 10:33:29 PM 447 Views
But... - 25/02/2010 12:44:15 AM 485 Views
Re: But... - 25/02/2010 05:52:07 PM 587 Views
Here's a few questions for you then. - 25/02/2010 02:55:00 AM 547 Views
You're not asking questions you're trying to support your point - 25/02/2010 06:49:28 PM 477 Views
I think this ties in well with this article - 25/02/2010 09:56:04 AM 415 Views
That's actually a really good idea - 25/02/2010 07:05:37 PM 348 Views

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