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December 02, 2008
A Looming Threat
Most of the news on the foreign policy front yesterday was, understandably, focused on President-Elect Obama's unveiling of his national security team, as well as continued fallout from last week's horrific attacks in Mumbai.
Many a reporter predictably tried to devine the real degree of thawing of things between Obama and his former rival for the Democratic nomination, now his pick for Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton. Just as predictably, neither gave the press anything to work with. (These are Jedi-level pols, folks, did you really expect anything different?)
On a much more somber note, people across the globe struggle to make sense of Mumbai -- the who, the why and the what will happen next?
Meanwhile, today's Washington Post highlights an alarming new report from the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, which suggests the recent events in India may pale in comparison to what lies ahead if and when terrorist groups get ahold of WMDs such as biological and nuclear weapons.
According to the Post piece, the bipartisan congressional committee declared the odds "better than even" that a WMD will be used in a terrorist attack on a major city in the next 5 years. Scary stuff indeed.
The report cites the spread of rogue states, smuggling networks, and atomic know-how as the root of the problem, and singles out Pakistan as a particular area of concern. It urges the new administration, Congress and the world community to act urgently to secure unguarded weapons stockpiles and disrupt smuggling rings.
Let's hope they are listening.
Posted by houtopia at December 2, 2008 09:44 AM
Comments
It is difficult to think about the future without acknowledging the very realistic possibility that a major city will probably be attacked with a WMD, and it is difficult to determine a way in which we can prevent this type of terrorist attack in the current geopolitical situation.
Posted by: Teddy at December 2, 2008 05:20 PM