Liam Fox spoke about the threat of nuclear terrorism at Kings College today. He didn’t use apocalyptic language but the facts he quoted show how frighteningly possible nuclear terrorism is:
Nuclear terrorism is so much more problematic than rogue nuclear states because "attackers have no return address and thus, traditional deterrence will not apply". Fox also said that for deterrence to work the enemy have to want to be deterred, but judging from what he saw in Tehran recently some people there positively welcomed the end of the world:
"These
people hate us not because of what we do but who we are. They hate our values,
our freedom, our entire way of life. They will never give in and, therefore,
neither must we."
In the questions afterwards he said that some of his parliamentary colleagues had warned him against painting such a grim picture, but that he thought he should tell it like it is because it isn’t said enough. He also criticised the press for being too interested in trivial matters like Big Brother to give such threats the coverage they need:
"A nuclear attack as an act of terrorist aggression would make 9/11 look like the most innocent of dress rehearsals. The danger is clear and present and potentially cataclysmic. We have been warned. It is time to wake up."
Sadly I don’t think this will sink in for most people until it happens. Download the full speech here.
Deputy Editor