I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. In the 70’s (and probably now too), Charleston was a rich military target. We schoolchildren were often directed to watch films about the proper response to a nuclear missile attack. Duck and cover, turn away from the blast, get under your desk. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, I remember thinking how glad I was that the likelihood of nuclear missile attack had been diminished and I wouldn’t have to think about my kids growing up with the paranoia of such an attack. Well a news story today has taken that away.
February 12, 2003
While testifying at a Senate committee hearing in Washington, CIA Director George Tenet was asked whether North Korea had a ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. West Coast. Before answering, Tenet turned to very quickly consult with aides sitting behind him. “I think the declassified answer, is yes, they can do that,” Tenet said.
April 29, 2005
The Pentagon’s top military intelligence officer said yesterday that North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device, stunning senators he was addressing and prompting attempts by other defense and intelligence officials later to play down the impact. The statement by Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby before the Senate Armed Services Committee marked the first time that a U.S. official had publicly attributed such a capability to North Korea. Although U.S. intelligence authorities have said for years that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons and could likely reach the United States with its long-range rockets, they had stopped short of asserting that North Korea had mastered the difficult task of miniaturizing a nuclear device to fit atop a ballistic missile. Jacoby, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea has developed multistage intercontinental missiles with nuclear warheads capable of hitting the United States. A two-stage missile is believed capable of striking “Alaska and Hawaii, and I believe a portion of the Northwest,” he said.
So now, due to George’s incompetence, Bolton’s assholeyness, the determination of the North Koreans to successfully implement nuclear weaponry, and AQ Khan’s cut-rate Pakistani Nuclear Bazaar, we find ourselves faced again with the prospect of nuclear ballistic missile attack on our country. George and John couldn’t even sustain the dialogue that Clinton and Allbright initiated. Its as if Bushco wants to doom the country. How can any person say they feel more secure with these people in charge?
My childhood was scarred by visions of being annihilated by a flash of white light. Those duck n’ cover drills were traumatic with the sirens wailing and little kids scrambling to get under their desks. My children were spared but I’ll be damned if I’ll let my grandchildren to grow up with that horror! Gawd, some days the world feels so fucked it’s hard to have hope.
that most of our generation suffered through is directly responsible for some fairly pathologic coping skills, the chief of which is a very robust and sick capacity for denial. IMHO, this is the largest contributing factor to the reason that the Chimpinator has been so successful in perpetuating his Orwellian reign. Our population was a fertile breeding ground for the rampant fascistic evangelism that strangles us long before anyone ever dreamed of starting a vast right wing conspiracy… This was the true “Nuclear Option”, if you will… recommend from me too.
dovetails perfectly with many mainstream religions as well. If you don’t toe the dogmatic line then you literally have hell to pay. A perfect environment for manipulation by other entities.
Maybe the conditioning I was subjected to as a kid with the duck and cover drills was merely the first iteration of fear mongering we saw perfected by Bushco with the color coded alert systems.
Old “nuke” jokes:
The sirens were screaming, people were running like mad, the media was blaring out warnings that the missiles were coming. In the midst of the chaos was Ivan, wrapped in a white sheet, walking slowly. As a friend ran past he yelled:
“Ivan, where are you going in that sheet?”
“To the graveyard.”
“Why are you walking???”
“Because I don’t want to cause a panic.”
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Procedures to follow in case of nuclear attack:
I remember the drills, and the above ground tests across the border in Nevada. We swore on a dark night you could see the flashes from the Central Valley (CA). I was stationed in the middle of North Dakota in the late ’60s, and we knew damn well we had a maximum 30 minutes to reach shelter after the sirens went off.
We also knew that estimates of the dead and dying from the blasts alone were above 60% of the entire U.S. & Russian populations. But we’re more rational now, no?