Wednesday, August 15, 2007





Whitley Strieber on the possible aftermath of a nuclear terrorist attack.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Suffice it to say that even the smallest possible nuclear attack would creat a giant cluster-fu*k for the country all the way around. As with 9-11, the psychological aftermath of attacks on US soil is always worse than the actual death toll.

If Al-Qaeda, and its scattered wanna-be followers, weren't so intent on making such a dramatic statement as a nuke attack, they could bring this country to a halt within a few weeks for essentially no cost.

Remember the East Coast snipers and how long it took to find them? 25 guys with rifles and a death wish could go out across the county to major cities and start shooting random people in suburbia and this county would be thrown into turmoil - both financially and emotionally.

Lucky for us their egos are too big for such a cheap and pragmatic aproach.

Anonymous said...

Strieber is, of course, completely and utterly wrong in his false presumptions about USG continuity of operations plans, which have been in place since the Truman administration. See the following excerpted quotes from his article:

"Because of the threat, though, the president recently ordered the entire federal government to create nuclear survival plans.

"This was a step that should have been taken years ago, and it is very far from adequate."
...
"It would be likely that all three branches of the US government, not to mention the military high command, would be decapitated. The military is prepared for command decapitation, but it would still face complex, probably insurmountable problems of command control and, above all, supply."
...
"Because of the fundamental mistake that there is no established plan to reconstitute the federal government from scratch, what would then happen is unknown. I recommended in the Secret School that a law be passed empowering the governors to select an interim congress and executive branch. But we have no such law, and therefore what would follow would probably be years of political confusion, economic catastrophe, and an enormous reduction in the power of the west."
...
"The answer to that question is simple: with a single, small nuclear weapon, they would have won. And what they might then do, I can hardly imagine.

"So, is this going to happen on the 19th? Probably not, but that does not change the fact that it might happen, and that our preparations to make sure that our way of life survives are so sadly inadequate. We need a National Recovery Act that clearly identifies just how the federal government is to be re-created, should it suddenly be destroyed.

"And we need that act now. No, we need it yesterday."
---------------------------------
Now, compare and contrast these ridiculous claims by checking the following and related links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuity_of_operations
http://www.globalsecurity.org/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/webinator/search/?pr=default&order=r&query=%22continuity+of+operations%22&submit=Submit
http://www.google.com/custom?q=%22continuity+of+operations%22&sitesearch=fas.org&sa=Search&cof=LW%3A600%3BBIMG%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.fas.org%2Fpaper2.jpg%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.fas.org%2Ffas_banner.gif%3BLH%3A50%3BAH%3Acenter%3BGL%3A0%3BAWFID%3A0d60397048482b28%3B&formAction=
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22continuity+of+operations%22&btnG=Google+Search

Strieber is a delusional idiot, sensationalistic rumor monger, and liar. He could not be unaware of all these references and citations if he and/or his "staff" did even the most elementary checking, which in fact is suggested by "The military is prepared for command decapitation," reference. Instead, he just makes stuff up that is easily and completely refutable.

He is preying on the fears of the ignorant for money and fame by deceit and alarmist falsehoods. How ignoble and counter-productive can he be? Just wait...I'm sure he will top himself.

We can and would survive a nuke in Washington and/or New York City. Or a CBR attack. The USG has spent hundreds of billions of dollars for over 60 years in anticipation of such contingencies. The federal government would reconstitute itself, and it would not take years.

It's likely martial law would be declared for some time, possibly a year or two in this kind of event, due to the psychological and economic disruption caused, but this has been planned for also, under Operation Garden Plot, the national civil disturbance management plan, which has a different name now, but is still active.

In fact, the continuity of operations plan has been active since Sept. 11, 2001. Strieber is not clueless, but he acts and writes as if he were. What a fool. His deceit sickens me.

Anonymous said...

I won't even get into the "conspiracy theories" that surround these issues. Suffice it to say that martial law would give Bush/Cheney the excuse they need to remain in power basically for an indeterminate period. If something of this nature is being "planned" for the immediate future, you can be sure that this will be the motivation. (God, I do so much HATE living in "interesting times.")

--W.M. Bear

weevee: yieap -- Kind of the way I feel after reading Whitley's article.

Chris said...

I'm as fascinated by fortean phenomena as anyone else, but he lost me right at the start with the crop circles reference.

Mac said...

Chris--

You and me both.