Agorism
11-29-2012, 08:08 PM
http://www.alternet.org/world/former-uk-defense-minister-suggests-dropping-thermonuclear-bombs-afghanistan-pakistan-border
Britain's ex-minister of Defense Lord Gilbert, has suggested dropping neutron bombs along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the name of deterring terrorism.
Specifically, he was suggesting using Enhanced Radiation Reduced Blast (ERRB) warheads, which is a type of nuclear weapon that is able to kill people without decimating all standing structures in the area.
"If you told them that some ERRB warheads were going to be dropped there and that it would be a very unpleasant place to go, they would not go there,” Gilbert said as he unveiled his plan to Britain’s House of Lords. “You would greatly reduce your problem of protecting those borders from infiltration from one side or another.... "These things are not talked about, but they should be, because there are great possibilities for deterrence in using the weapons that we already have in that respect."
He went on to express his support for nuclear weapons and his opposition to global disarmament.
"I am absolutely delighted that nuclear weapons were invented when they were and I am delighted that, with our help, it was the Americans who invented them," he said.
At a time when the U.S.’s drone policy is coming under increasing scrutiny, Gilbert’s support for dropping a type of nuclear bombs on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were way off the map of acceptable military strategies, according to the majority of his fellow members of the House of Lords.
Lord Wallace, speaking on behalf of the U.K. government, said that it didn’t share Gilbert’s “rumbustious views.”
Gilbert’s suggestion came in the middle of a debate about the possibility of eliminating nuclear weapons around the world, which only made his statements more incendiary.
His ultimate goal, he said, was to create an impenetrable chasm between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which he called “creat[ing] cordons sanitaire along various borders where people are causing trouble.”
Watch his speech here:
Britain's ex-minister of Defense Lord Gilbert, has suggested dropping neutron bombs along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the name of deterring terrorism.
Specifically, he was suggesting using Enhanced Radiation Reduced Blast (ERRB) warheads, which is a type of nuclear weapon that is able to kill people without decimating all standing structures in the area.
"If you told them that some ERRB warheads were going to be dropped there and that it would be a very unpleasant place to go, they would not go there,” Gilbert said as he unveiled his plan to Britain’s House of Lords. “You would greatly reduce your problem of protecting those borders from infiltration from one side or another.... "These things are not talked about, but they should be, because there are great possibilities for deterrence in using the weapons that we already have in that respect."
He went on to express his support for nuclear weapons and his opposition to global disarmament.
"I am absolutely delighted that nuclear weapons were invented when they were and I am delighted that, with our help, it was the Americans who invented them," he said.
At a time when the U.S.’s drone policy is coming under increasing scrutiny, Gilbert’s support for dropping a type of nuclear bombs on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were way off the map of acceptable military strategies, according to the majority of his fellow members of the House of Lords.
Lord Wallace, speaking on behalf of the U.K. government, said that it didn’t share Gilbert’s “rumbustious views.”
Gilbert’s suggestion came in the middle of a debate about the possibility of eliminating nuclear weapons around the world, which only made his statements more incendiary.
His ultimate goal, he said, was to create an impenetrable chasm between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which he called “creat[ing] cordons sanitaire along various borders where people are causing trouble.”
Watch his speech here: