X-Message-Number: 17536 From: "George Smith" <> References: <> Subject: Cryonics surviving terrorism. Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 21:29:37 -0700 In the wake of the recent events, some postings here on the Cryonet have expressed concern over how to defend cryonics facilities and patients against terrorism. I am going to suggest that the current attacks in the United States have precipitated the essential end to meaningful attacks in the long run once we are past the current emergency. In my opinion, the underfunding of covert intelligence operations by the United States in combination with a domestic political unwillingness to follow the successful record of Israel in using covert assassination teams resulted in the current crisis. The outcome from this crisis will be the adoption of the Israeli approach to include covert assassination teams, the return of funding for the anthrax vaccination program (derailed only this summer), and the beginning of what I think historians will probably characterize as a "Pax Americana". I would not be in the least surprised to see a tactical nuclear strike (most probably against Afghanistan with a 3 kiloton warhead delivered from a Gulf warship via a Tomahawk missile) occur within 72 hours following a formal declaration of war by Congress. I doubt that conventional bombings (including fuel air explosives, the "poor man's nuke") will be considered sufficient in response to both the demands of the American citizens and the need to demonstrate that the terrorist situation is not going to ever again be "business as usual". I suspect that the NATO agreement executed Wednesday was made with just exactly this scenario in mind. It may be that there will be a failure of nerve to exercise the nuclear option but that would only probably mean that those currently in office will later be voted out. The end of the Gulf War was not satisfying to the American public. The end of this conflict if conducted in a similar fashion would be politically disastrous. The response will have to be "special" for many reasons. But these are the foreground issues. They are not the actual answers to the long term problem. Window dressing and not substance. Politics and not reality. At the same time no matter what massive or horrific actions would undercut (or give more than strong pause to) the future intentions of those few nations willing to harbor terrorist activities, I strongly suspect that the real and permanent answer will stem from fully advancing the Israeli strategic approach. This of course includes such simple expedients as a return to the armed Air Marshall program for domestic flights. (Israel has had armed soldiers on board all of their flights for years). This, more importantly, includes the use of highly trained covert assassination teams through United States intelligence agencies. "Kill the head and the body dies." An old boxer's maxim. Covert military assassination has already been demonstrated to be effective against terrorism in Israel and, with the destruction of the World Trade Center, the "moral concerns" of those opposed to such expedient and necessary operations have been effectively silenced forever. Large scale terrorist attacks like those witnessed this week will not happen in the future for many, many years. Taking precautions against small scale efforts is always wise. More than that will not be required. When the last wave of the current attacks has ceased (if it has not ceased already - knock on wood) the events witnessed this week will not be repeated. The professionals who have been literally begging for the tools to defend the free world for over 8 years will at last be given those tools and the legal permission to do the job. I am more optimistic about the future than ever before. George Smith CI member Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17536