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Donovan et. al.<BR>
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Donovan wrote:<BR>
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"Am I just being paranoid thinking that pro-UBL Pakistanis would give nuclear <BR>
weapons to UBL to use against the US and/or that Bush has everything under <BR>
control?"<BR>
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Maybe paranoid, but a world with nuclear weapons is by definition a paranoid world. Anyone who isn't paranoid with large numbers of nuclear weapons that can be launched and delivered to their targets in an hour or two needs to become paranoid. The strategy of MAD (mutually assured destruction) is just that, MAD, yet it is the theoretical foundation of US nuclear policy between Russia and the USA. People forget that the cold war nuclear standoff that was between the Soviet Union and the USA is now between Russia and the USA. We are still only hours away from a massive nuclear war. Tensions are reduced between the USA and Russia, but massive nuclear attack systems are still in place and ready to go with fingers on the buttons ... the unthinkable is still a possibility.<BR>
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Musharaff's hold on power in Pakistan has been tenuous for years. Their was an assassination attempt on his life since 9/11 that failed. If Pakistan had a takeover by more extreme anti-US elements, Pakistan's nuclear weapons would become a major risk (as if they are not now already!), but I do not think Pakistan can deliver nuclear weapons to the USA with its current missile technology. Nor do I think they would be inclined to give a nuclear weapon away given the small number of nuclear weapons they possess, when they need them as a deterrent against India's nuclear arsenal. Pakistan is more worried about Hindu's than they are about us. Pakistan is no doubt a sponsor of terrorism inside India, and harbors elements who are very anti-US, but the USA does not worry about that too much as long as Pakistan plays our game.<BR>
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It is amazing that the obvious fact that the USA has not pursued Osama Bin Laden with the full resources possible continues to fly under the radar of public opinion in the USA. Some think the USA wants Bin Laden still at large, though marginalized, to continue the scare tactics against the citizens of the USA with the War on Terror using Bin Laden as a bogey man. <BR>
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Anyway, the people of the USA are distracted, so why beat our heads against "The Wall" trying to inform them? "The bleeding hearts and artists make their stand..." goes the song lyrics.<BR>
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I am more concerned with weapons grade nuclear material that has been "lost" in the breakdown of the Soviet Union, weapons material that could be used to build a nuclear weapon. Or the rumored "suitcase" nuclear weapons that may have "disappeared" from the former Soviet Union.<BR>
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It is only a matter of time before some nation or group uses a nuclear weapon somewhere.<BR>
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The genie is out of the bottle!<BR>
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Ted Moffett<BR>
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