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01/28/2008

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J.

"in 1993, the US government agreed to the destruction of all chemical weapons by 2012? Who, outside a small group of specialists in this area, knows how much progress the US government has made?"

OOHHH! OHHHH!!! I know the answer, Mr. Kottterrer!

We just hit the 50% mark last month. It's slow and steady process. And for the record, in 1993, the US Senate agreed to destroy all chemical weapons and related materials by 2007. It got extended about two years ago (and probably will be extended another five years in 2011). But that really wasn't the point of your excellent discussion.

As a side note, it may be of interest to you that the DOD decided in 1997 (after years of deliberation) to lift the veil of secrecy as to how many chemical weapons were at each of the eight CONUS stockpiles and what types they were. Posted it on the internet and everything. This was partially to better educate the local community as to the risks of storage and destruction. After 9/11, the DOD slammed down the secrecy veil because "terrorists might use the data to plan and execute a raid on one of the chemical depots."

Yes, the bureaucrats are that stupid.

ajay

And, if a nuclear-armed enemy emerges, isn't it safe to assume that there will be a bit of lead time? Enough, say, to ramp up production and produce a few more warheads? I can't help thinking that, first time around, it took less than five years to go from "hmm, I don't even know if this is possible, but let's have a look" to the Trinity test.

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