I am not entirely sure what to make of this admission from Donald Rumsfeld to the effect that it is ‘inevitable’ that terrorists are going to get their grubby paws on WMD sooner or later and bloody well use them.
I don’t think anybody is blogland is surprised by this admission. After all, isn’t this something we have all speculated about? A nuclear weapon is not exactly available at any retail outlet (yet!) but it seems that constructing just a rudimentary one is not as mind-bogglingly difficult as it used to be. Given that, all that is required is the will to use it and we all witnessed an unambiguous demonstration of that will last September.
No, what is arousing my curiosity is the Official Stamp that these suspicions have now been given by Mr.Rumsfeld. Even the most gauche among us have been alerted in no uncertain terms. So is Mr.Rumsfeld trying to soften us all up? Does he know something we don’t? Or is it a case of expecting the worse but hoping for the best?
I couple this with the appearance yesterday of a dire warning on the front page of a popular British tabloid (sorry, can’t find link) that suicide bombers were on their way to Britain. It may or may not be true, of course. British tabloids are somewhat notorious for issuing dire warnings that turn out to be nothing more than, well, dire warnings.
Things are a tad less dramatic over on the actual battlefront in Afghanistan where British Royal Marine Commandos trudge around disconsolately seeking engagement with an enemy that either cannot be found or no longer exists. Meanwhile, back in the West, we are fighting a war of catastrophic expectations and that ratchet has just been cranked up another notch or two.
