America has long been called the most powerful nation, but are we really as secure as we think. America has many nuclear weapons and could destroy any opposing country. Our military is sizable and so are our navy and marine forces, but America is not ready for any type of Biological, Chemical, or nuclear attacks. “Before September eleventh, the threat of an attack with weapons of mass destruction was just theoretical” says Janet Williams, a reporter from the BBC news station.
In a survey carried out by a team from West Virginia University before September eleventh, thirty U.S. hospitals were contacted at random. A total of twenty six said they would only be able to handle a maximum of fifteen victims in the event of a bio-terror attack. Twenty two of those hospitals revealed they would not be able to handle a chemical or nuclear attack. It is apparent that America would not be able to handle the amount of casualties in the event of a bio-terror attack if all hospitals follow this trend.
In the event of a dirty bomb, a makeshift bomb made from unsafe materials such as cesium 137 and cobalt 60, being placed near the capital there would be wide spread, irrational panic. The average cancer risks are about two thousand deaths per ten thousand or around twenty percent. Here is a scenario, if ten pounds of TNT and a pea sized sample of cesium 137 were placed in Washington DC, the initial casualties would be limited to the site of explosion, which would mainly be by cancer from radiation. The EPA contamination threshold is an increase of one cancer death per ten thousand people. (more…)
