- Emphasizing that his idea is just an option, Rep. Steve
Buyer, R-Ind., believes the United States should consider using tactical
nuclear weapons against Osama bin Laden's terrorist network in Afghanistan
if that network is linked to the recent anthrax incidents in the United
States.
-
- Buyer, a Persian Gulf War veteran and member of the House
Veterans Affairs Committee, thinks small, specialized nuclear weapons,
not as powerful as the atom bombs that were dropped on Japan in World War
II, could be used on the caves where members of bin Laden's network have
taken shelter.
-
- However, Buyer emphasized that the use of the weapons
would only be a proper response if bin Laden's people are linked to the
anthrax cases in Florida, Washington, New York and elsewhere in the United
States.
-
- "Don't send special forces in there to sweep. We'd
be very naive to believe that biotoxins and chemical agents were not in
these caves. Put a tactical nuclear device in and close these caves for
a thousand years," said Buyer in an interview with Indianapolis television
station WRTV.
-
- Buyer stressed that he did not advocate the use of full-power
nuclear bombs, but acknowledged that much of the world wouldn't see the
difference.
-
- Buyer's press secretary, Laura Zuckerman, told CNSNews.com
Thursday: "This is not an option that the congressman has called upon
the White House or anybody of the military operations to take. He is just
saying he would support it, if this an option that they would like to take.
-
- "He's not advocating nuclear war. He's a Gulf War
veteran, he knows the horrors of war and he would never look to escalate
something in this way. If they [were] quelled somewhat by the threat of
a nuclear attack, then the threat itself might be enough," said Zuckerman.
-
- Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes," National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice said the United States would remain on high alert
for some time although there were no specific terrorist threats, she said,
nor any evidence that terrorists had gotten their hands on nuclear weapons.
-
- "There are reports of all kinds of things, some
true and some not. But there's no reason for the American people at this
point to fear a specific threat of that kind. We have no credible evidence
of a specific threat of that kind," Rice said.
-
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- Copyright CNSNews.com http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/10/18/163329.shtml
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