Article

2005-12-12 India-Pakistan

Waziristan becoming an al-Qaeda stronghold

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Posted by Dan Darling 2005-12-12 03:12|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I'm thinking the Master of the Obvious graphic. I'm also thinking this should become the PakiWaki Ground Zero... Then radiate outward in a spiral until the whole freaked-out place is a set of smoking holes.

Hey, on second thought mebbe we could hire some of those spoof Brits who came up with the nifty crop circle designs and get them to sit down with a Pentagon team to map out a nifty design - spirals are sooo passÃ©.

I can see it now...a millenia or two on, when man migrates back to temperate climes and finally regains space flight after the spirited games with Islamic Jihad HS and Golden Dragon HS are, um, over, they'll see the design - and conclude that only visitors from outer space coulda done it. How would you say Eric Von Daniken in Inuit Esperanto? Heh. He could call the book Dogsleds of the Gods has a catchy ring, doncha think? Mush, baby, mush.

Posted by .com 2005-12-12 03:56|| 2005-12-12 03:56|| Front Page Top

#2 I vote we take off and Neutron bomb the entire durrand line from orbit. Its the only way to be sure.

Posted by pihkalbadger 2005-12-12 05:54|| 2005-12-12 05:54|| Front Page Top

#3 But, IIRC, we don't have the neutron variety anymore - I think it was Geo41 who signed a Presidential finding or something "outlawing" them from our inventory.

Looks like Dubya's gotta fix yet another dumbass legacy decision from the old man's crew. I'm all for reopening production lines for these babies, myownself. They make one helluvalot of sense. :-)

Posted by .com 2005-12-12 06:04|| 2005-12-12 06:04|| Front Page Top

#4 I have to agree with the idea of neutron bombs. They always struck me as the kindest method available -- the subjects of the bomb evaporated, leaving a clean and relatively undestroyed place available for resettlement, with no residual radiation to affect the health of the survivors and the settlers. Quite unlike the tales after Hiroshima about eyeless people wandering around with their skin falling off until they fell over dead.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-12-12 09:02|| 2005-12-12 09:02|| Front Page Top

#5 tw. neutron radiation is probably the worst type there is. It takes an awful lot of lead to shield something from neutron radiation. Boron impregnated polyeurathane works as well but the best is a combination of the 2. Thpeople affected are affected differently based on their distance from the ignition point. They still die from radiation sickness but it is a quicker death in most cases. The neutron radiation is not lingering because their are no radioactive particles lying around. Neutrons themselves are not radioactive but do destroy (ionize) cell nuclei. That is what kills.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2005-12-12 09:51|| 2005-12-12 09:51|| Front Page Top

#6 You entirely forget the corpses lying around and rotting, don't think that the radiation will sterilize all of them, and one rotting corpse will provide all the germs needed to infest the others.
Such vectors as birds and vermin will spread the germs from infested corpse to "Sterilized" ones in a day or so.
Three days to "Uninhabitable" is a fair estimate.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2005-12-12 10:06|| 2005-12-12 10:06|| Front Page Top

#7 My earlier post was a facetious misquote from a film. Enhanced radiation weapons are the truly nasty apogee of the weapon smithâs craft, their effectiveness lies in their ability to rapidly mutate nucleic acids destroying the cellular capability to repair or replicate successfully. Death by cellular failure or eurythrocytic leukemia is not a death a human should wish on another. Unless they are Welsh or look funny of course.

Posted by pihkalbadger 2005-12-12 15:38|| 2005-12-12 15:38|| Front Page Top

#8 Watch yourself with the comments about us Welsh, bachgen.

Posted by daughter of Llewelyn Davies 2005-12-12 16:16|| 2005-12-12 16:16|| Front Page Top

#9 Deacon Blues: Actually neutrons are radioactive, with a halflife of about 10 minutes. I can think of a couple of additional pathways for damage: scattering off protons, which stop quickly and dump a lot of energy locally; and (when the neutrons have slowed down via scattering) getting captured by a nucleus and activating it, which I'd expect to then decay with beta or gamma emission. Neutrons (being neutral) don't do direct ionization as they fly through cells.

Posted by James">James 2005-12-12 17:36|| http://idontknowbut.blogspot.com]">[http://idontknowbut.blogspot.com] 2005-12-12 17:36|| Front Page Top

#10 So, if I understand you correctly, Deacon, neutron bombs are so effective because they are more intensely radioactive at the time of explosion? The follow-on to that thought seems to me to be that those within the effective radious of the explosion (is that the correct terminology?) will be hit by a brief but exceedingly high dose of radiation, which would kill more quickly than a traditional nuke. Given my understanding of the ugliness of traditional radiation-induced dying, I don't find this objectionable. As for the large number of rotting corpses, that is the customary result of war, and the customary response is mass graves or pyres. But the stench of rotting flesh is not nearly as dangerous for the survivors as high levels of residual radiation. I know which I would choose for myself, if I had to choose.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-12-12 20:56|| 2005-12-12 20:56|| Front Page Top

#11 TW: No high-levels of radioactivity remain - that's the beauty/rub with Neutron bombs. The people (animals too) die, but the area can be occupied quickly afterward by your troops

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-12-12 21:08|| 2005-12-12 21:08|| Front Page Top

#12 "by your troops"

I like the sound of that, Frank. How many troops do I get? ;-)

Posted by trailing wife 2005-12-12 21:14|| 2005-12-12 21:14|| Front Page Top

#13 The Talibs originated in the madrassahs on the Pak side of the border. These are the very same people, with the very same education, doing the very same things.

To steal a line from someone else: they're the only religious students on earth who know how to drive tanks..(or something like that).

and, still in infancy, in Toronto

Um, no. That was shot down by the provincial(?) Liberals. No more religious courts, arbitration, or whatever, for whoever.

Posted by Rafael 2005-12-12 21:18|| 2005-12-12 21:18|| Front Page Top

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