DAFFYNITION
We are, in our governmental circles, often in danger of defining ourselves into dangerous corners.
For example: All this talk about “Weapons of Mass Destruction.”
All weapons are “weapons of mass destruction”, or they are useless.
Who would be willing to expend work and money developing a half-way or “maybe” piece of ordinance? At what point would it be defined as being a “weapon”? What constitutes a “mass”? How many? Of what?
“Weapons of Mass Destruction” as a cumbersome term of vague potentials, became “W.M.P.” when used by the media and as understood by an evermore gullible public. The acronym has an evasive quality about it, too, which permits individual gradations of severity. We can each visualize the immensity of the situation as being a mild, medium, moderate, or monstrous threat to our very existence.
With such a vague definition in mind, we dispatched agents into foreign lands to ascertain the existence of such demonic weaponry aimed our way, and ready for use by power-crazed despot in a matter of minutes. We were disappointed, confused and confounded, when our fantasy-fed inspectors fail to find such exotic weaponry as we have thought would have been available in glitzy bundles awaiting our arrival.
The natural public reaction has been for many to castigate the inspectors themselves as being inept, bumbling busybodies and others have seen it as an opportunity to blame the Bush Administration for seeing the danger in the first place.. The resulting standoff situations which developed between such factions, might well have obscured the reality inspection has found evidence that such feared weaponry system such as biological and chemical agents and the means of dispersing them against us, have been shown to have existed to some extent. Ruins of movable labs have been found which could well have been used by Iraq's former leader. He actually made us of such facilities to kill thousands of his own people who had rebelled against his despotic rule in the recent past. We have found that he had developed such capabilities and that they have either been destroyed or moved across the border into neighboring Arabic states.
There now remains a threat - and is far from being a minor one - which would point to the distinct possibility that the use and misuse of the handy acronym. The most glaring example of mis-use of the term is to be seen in our upcoming presidential campaign already underway. Misguided users of the questionable term are suspect in the minds of many.
A.L.M. October 11, 2003 [c476wds]
