by Frank James
The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism officially issued its report today.
We've known for days that the report's takeaway message would reflect what's in the first paragraph of the report's executive summary:
The Commission believes that unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013.
That conclusion rests heavily on the thinking of the U.S. intelligence community. Adm. Mike McConnell, the director of National Intelligence Director, said in a speech last night at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University last night.
McConnell said:
With weapons of mass destruction that could result in the death of many, many people - chemical, biological, nuclear - we assess biological as the more likely and it's better than an even chance in the next five years that an attack by one of those weapons systems will be conducted in some place on the globe - not necessarily in the United States, but somewhere.
The report was a reminder, as was the press conference today, that the commission's members nearly became victims of a high-profile terrorist attack themselves last September.
Former Indiana Congressman Tim Roemer, a commission member, said the following at today's Capitol Hill press conference, as he made a point about Pakistan as a source of terrorism:
We were on our way to Islamabad as part of the mission for our work. And on September 20th in Dubai, getting ready to board the plane and go to Pakistan, we got a call from the State Department. And the State Department said: We've got good news and bad news for you. The good news is, you're not in your hotel. The bad news is, your hotel's gone. We were hours away from the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad when the terrorists hit it. That was a near miss for this commission and for its members, but certainly a signal that Pakistan -- when you're looking at the confluence of terrorism and proliferation, all roads lead to Pakistan.
Comments
Am I missing something? Somehow, reporting that terrorists would like to launch a biological or nuclear attack against the United States if they had the weaponry doesn't strike me as breaking news.
That's why Repubs go back to this lizard brain-stimulating tactic. They have no juice in federal government after January 20th . . . besides fomenting fear, which has worked for them most times in the past. They'll need a lever a push down on, often and hard, just to keep them in the public focus as some sort of necessary component in an era of Obama.
Nobody on the street reads these reports in detail: it's the headlines and summary points which matter.
Terrorists, certain attack, bioweapons....etc etc etc...
PR mission accomplished. If they gauge that it's a workable line, it's just one of many to come.
Posted by: John E | December 3, 2008 3:31 PM
Well, it was bipartisan. A bipartisan "report". But seems that we've heard it all before.
Just like that terror commission report that pre-dated 9/11, which no one paid any attention to, either before or after the event.
Or the 9/11 Commission report itself, many of its recommendations unfulfilled.
Posted by: ornery | December 3, 2008 11:50 PM
Beat that drum of fear, slowly. " Only thing we have to fear, is fear itself." Another great President, FDR, stated that statement in his first Inaugural address. Maybe President-elect Obama will remind the nation that, while there is always a threat from our enemies, both within and without, our country, we should not neglect our nation's needs and ambitions. That we can walk and chew gum, at the same time !! Unlike, the mindset, if one can make that leap, of the previous two administrations !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | December 4, 2008 10:10 AM