Reality check on terrorism.

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: jamie rishaw <jamie () arpa com>
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 08:34:19 -0600
To: dave () farber net
Cc: jamie rishaw <jamie () arpa com>

Dave,

I was passed this from a friend; am making it available for IP'ers.

Comments welcome; This is a factually-correct writing, and a good read.

It is up at http://arpa.com/misc/realitycheck.html (16kb)

Excerpt:

-- snip --

Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical,
biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I decided to write a paper and
keep things in their proper perspective. I am a retired military weapons,
munitions, and training expert.

Lesson number one: In the mid 1990s there were a series of nerve gas attacks
on crowded Japanese subway stations. Given perfect conditions for an attack
less than 10% of the people there were injured (the injured were better in
a few hours) and only one percent of the injured died.

60 Minutes once had a fellow telling us that one drop of nerve gas could
kill
a thousand people, well he didn't tell you the thousand dead people per drop
was theoretical.

Drill Sergeants exaggerate how terrible this stuff was to keep the recruits
awake in class (I know this because I was a Drill Sergeant too). Forget
everything you've ever seen on TV, in the movies, or read in a novel about
this stuff, it was all a lie (read this sentence again out loud!). These
weapons are about terror, if you remain calm, you will probably not die.
This is far less scary than the media and their "Experts," make it sound.

-- snip --


------ End of Forwarded Message

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