Note from Elisabeth Bumiller re Iraq WMDs

[Bhaisahab]

From now on, rightwingnuts must not refer to Weapons of Mass Desctruction, but Unconventional Weapons (whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean). These guys are psychos and need to be kicked in the ass.

excerpts from an article by Elisabeth Bumiller:

"There's a certain ferocity in motherhood," said Celeste Zappala of Philadelphia, a co-founder of Ms. Sheehan's antiwar group, Gold Star Families for Peace, and the mother of Sgt. Sherwood Baker, a national guardsman. Sergeant Baker was killed in Baghdad in April 2004 while protecting the Iraq Survey Group, which was searching for large unconventional weapons.

SNIP

Ms. Prewitt said she voted for Mr. Bush in 2000 and initially supported the war, but turned against it after no unconventional weapons were found. "The first year I was rather numb, and then I got angry," she said.

full article:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0829-03.htm

[blogslut]

1. WMD

Was a re-work of the lingo too. Used to be, we called em nukes.

[rodeodance]

2. you got me thinking about the origin of the term.

Very interesting.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapons_of_mass_destruction

Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) generally include nuclear, biological, chemical and, increasingly, radiological weapons. The term first arose in 1937 in reference to the mass destruction of Guernica, Spain, by aerial bombardment. Following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and progressing through the Cold War, the term came to refer more to non-conventional weapons. The terms ABC, NBC, and CBRN have been used synonymously with WMD, although nuclear weapons have the greatest capacity to cause mass destruction. The phrase entered popular usage in relation to the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Because of their indiscriminate impacts, fear of WMD has shaped political policies and campaigns, fosted social movements, and has been the central theme of many films. Support for different levels of WMD development and control varies nationally and internationally. Yet understanding of the nature of the threats is not high, in part because of imprecise usage of the term by politicians and the media.
Contents

* 1 Historic use of the term WMD
* 2 Current definitions.........