WMDs, revisited

Some are proclaiming that Al Queda and Iran are working toward WMDs, primarily nuclear. These same people are saying we should go after them and take the WMDs we don't even know they have away from them.

In some small way, I kind of wish that some terrorist group would get ahold of some WMDs and would set them off within America. I'm not saying that for any sort of anti-American sentiment or reason (I'm one of the most pro-America people you'll meet), but instead as a last laugh at the terrorist.

What most of the world, and terrorists in particular, don't seem to understand is that America feeds the world. Yes, the world. No other 10 countries combined ships more food to more places in the world than America. With so much of the country in temperate climates, the growing season in America is nearly year-round. Corn, wheat, and fruits/vegetables are shipped everywhere. The middle east and northern Africa, all hot beds of terrorism, in particular could not survive without the constant influx of staple food from America.

If terrorists set of a nuclear explosion anywhere that either affects America's ability to produce the food or its ability to ship it the rest of the world, some of the first people to suffer will be the terrorist themselves. They will, in essence, commit suicide by that act of terrorism. They will murder their wives and children by doing so. They will wipe out their own nations and ideologies by disrupting the global food chain that is currently feeding them.

Look at North Korea. To show our displeasure at what Kim Jong Il was doing, we cut back our exports of all items to that nation, including food. Now, the people are starving, the economy is on the verge of collapse, and the people are revolting against the government. Now, imagine there was no food coming again, ever, and think about how bad things would be there... that's what it would be like for most of the world without America supplying it food.

I have often argued that the easiest way for America to make rogue nations come back in line would be too cut off all food supplies we ship to them and their allies. Within a month, those nations would be starving and they would have to capitulate or cease to exist. But Americans don't do that; we see the difference between affecting change in a corrupt government or military or terrorist group and starving women and children. We won't do the latter even if it is the fastest way to affect the former.

And this discussion doesn't even hit on the monetary aid America sends to these nations or the disaster relief we provide, which exceeds most other nations.

But, in the end, I guess we're not dealing with ideologies that are rational. So they would do it, just to make a point, even if it kills them. Hence the use of suicide bombers. I do not want to see America harmed and I do not want to see the world suffer global starvation. But some small piece of me would be shaking his head and laughing at the terrorist if they ever do it.