Pentagon's Sci-Fi Super Warriors
Tomgram: Nick Turse on the Pentagon's sci-fi super warriors
The year is 2030 and President Pierce Bush addresses the nation:
"My fellow countrymen, in the past, enemies of America required massed armies, and great navies, powerful air forces to put our nation, our people, our friends and allies at risk. What has changed in the first four decades of the 21st century is that, in the hands of terrorists, weapons of mass destruction have become a first resort -- the preferred means to further their ideology of suicide and random murder. These terrible weapons are becoming easier to acquire, build, hide, and transport.
"We're determined to confront those threats at the source. We will stop these weapons from being acquired or built. We'll block them from being transferred. We'll prevent them from ever being used. America, and the entire civilized world, will face this threat for decades to come. We must confront the danger with open eyes, and unbending purpose. I have made clear to all the policy of this nation: America will not permit terrorists and dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most deadly weapons.
"Thanks to the vigilance of the Central Intelligence Agency, news has reached us that, on the Central Asian black market, the Uzbekistan branch of al-Qaeda has acquired a single antimatter weapon small enough to fit into the palm of your hand but powerful enough to destroy a major city. Armed with such a weapon, small groups of fanatics, or failing states, could gain the power to threaten the cities of great nations, threaten the world peace, or our very existence.
"So, my fellow Americans, I have today ordered our Special Forces X-Force of Super Cyborg Soldiers to spearhead an invasion of Uzbekistan to wrest that antimatter bomb, perhaps the most dangerous weapon on a planet of dangerous weapons, from the hands of the terrorists. I thank you and may God bless you all."
(Adapted from President Announces New Measures to Counter the Threat of WMD, February 11, 2004)
Sound like a post-governorship Schwarzenegger movie, a selection from one of Philip K. Dick's nuttier novels, or maybe an offshoot from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock? Hmmm. Well, not exactly.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
The year is 2030 and President Pierce Bush addresses the nation:
"My fellow countrymen, in the past, enemies of America required massed armies, and great navies, powerful air forces to put our nation, our people, our friends and allies at risk. What has changed in the first four decades of the 21st century is that, in the hands of terrorists, weapons of mass destruction have become a first resort -- the preferred means to further their ideology of suicide and random murder. These terrible weapons are becoming easier to acquire, build, hide, and transport.
"We're determined to confront those threats at the source. We will stop these weapons from being acquired or built. We'll block them from being transferred. We'll prevent them from ever being used. America, and the entire civilized world, will face this threat for decades to come. We must confront the danger with open eyes, and unbending purpose. I have made clear to all the policy of this nation: America will not permit terrorists and dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most deadly weapons.
"Thanks to the vigilance of the Central Intelligence Agency, news has reached us that, on the Central Asian black market, the Uzbekistan branch of al-Qaeda has acquired a single antimatter weapon small enough to fit into the palm of your hand but powerful enough to destroy a major city. Armed with such a weapon, small groups of fanatics, or failing states, could gain the power to threaten the cities of great nations, threaten the world peace, or our very existence.
"So, my fellow Americans, I have today ordered our Special Forces X-Force of Super Cyborg Soldiers to spearhead an invasion of Uzbekistan to wrest that antimatter bomb, perhaps the most dangerous weapon on a planet of dangerous weapons, from the hands of the terrorists. I thank you and may God bless you all."
(Adapted from President Announces New Measures to Counter the Threat of WMD, February 11, 2004)
Sound like a post-governorship Schwarzenegger movie, a selection from one of Philip K. Dick's nuttier novels, or maybe an offshoot from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock? Hmmm. Well, not exactly.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 10:03 AM
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