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Would a WMD attack destroy the US Constitution?

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  • Would a WMD attack destroy the US Constitution?

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    Gen. Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack

    John O. Edwards, NewsMax.com
    Friday, Nov. 21, 2003

    Gen. Tommy Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.
    Franks, who successfully led the U.S. military operation to liberate Iraq, expressed his worries in an extensive interview he gave to the men’s lifestyle magazine Cigar Aficionado.

    In the magazine’s December edition, the former commander of the military’s Central Command warned that if terrorists succeeded in using a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) against the U.S. or one of our allies, it would likely have catastrophic consequences for our cherished republican form of government.

    Discussing the hypothetical dangers posed to the U.S. in the wake of Sept. 11, Franks said that “the worst thing that could happen” is if terrorists acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon that inflicts heavy casualties.

    If that happens, Franks said, “... the Western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we’ve seen for a couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy.”

    Franks then offered “in a practical sense” what he thinks would happen in the aftermath of such an attack.

    “It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world – it may be in the United States of America – that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important.”

    Franks didn’t speculate about how soon such an event might take place.

    .....
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    Wouldn't the opposite be true as well? Isn't it likely that in the wake of a catastrophic WMD attack, that the nation would cherish the consitution and want to strengthen its democratic beliefs even more?
    'There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.'"
    G'Kar - from Babylon 5 episode "Z'ha'dum"

  • #2
    To a degree, wars always do, temporarily.
    Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
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    He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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    • #3
      If it it exploded near it, certainly.
      Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.
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      • #4
        Re: Would a WMD attack destroy the US Constitution?

        Wouldn't the opposite be true as well? Isn't it likely that in the wake of a catastrophic WMD attack, that the nation would cherish the consitution and want to strengthen its democratic beliefs even more?
        Change WMD for Terrorist (as in 9/11) and then think about the Patriot act that resulted from it.
        I believe Franks is right. You would go into "kick ass" mode at the expense of your Constitution. We all would.
        What?

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        • #5
          Constitution?
          "Chegitz, still angry about the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991?
          You provide no source. You PROVIDE NOTHING! And yet you want to destroy capitalism.. you criminal..." - Fez

          "I was hoping for a Communist utopia that would last forever." - Imran Siddiqui

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          • #6
            That was my first reaction when I heard about the plane crash in Queens in November 2001--this was the second wave of attacks everyone was predicting and normal life in the USA was over. Maybe not a military dictatorship, but at least a World War II-style semi-democracy.

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            • #7
              of course a brutal attack like this would temporarily shut down the republic just as wars always do (martial law)
              "Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
              "I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

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              • #8
                He has to be kidding, the worst it would do is blow the ashes around

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                • #9
                  yeah, that makes sense. the national archives is a sturdily built building, but a nuclear blast nearby would still vaporize it.

                  as for things going the other way? as much as it pains me to say this, i can't see it happening. too many americans seem to want to trade freedoms for security, and would thus welcom martial law.
                  B♭3

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                  • #10
                    Think about who the sitting President is. Do you think that, given that excuse, he wouldn't jump at the chance to suspend the Constitution and become President for Life. We are talking about someone who knows damn well he wasn't elected in the first place and owes his office to the violation of the Constitution.

                    The question, however, is given how pissed the military and CIA are at him, how long he'd make it before they removed him from power?
                    Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

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                    • #11
                      what would be interesting is if someone brought a nuclear weapon right up to Capitol hill and let it off while congress was in session. that would really f up the US democratic system
                      "Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
                      "I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

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                      • #12
                        yeah, that makes sense. the national archives is a sturdily built building, but a nuclear blast nearby would still vaporize it.


                        I don't know about that. Nuclear blasts aren't as strong as people think they are, especially for the weak type of nukes a terrrorist group is likely to get its hands on.

                        Besides, the Constitution has its own special-made bunker that should shield it from any WMD attack. The only real issue is how quickly the Constitution can go from its on display location to its bunker.
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                        • #13
                          We are talking about someone who knows damn well he wasn't elected in the first place and owes his office to the violation of the Constitution.


                          Actually, I'm pretty sure he doesn't know that. Only whinging leftists and complete nutjobs are still harping on it.
                          KH FOR OWNER!
                          ASHER FOR CEO!!
                          GUYNEMER FOR OT MOD!!!

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                          • #14
                            Do you think that, given that excuse, he wouldn't jump at the chance to suspend the Constitution and become President for Life.


                            Yes. He wouldn't.

                            Do you have something other than a troll to contribute?
                            “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
                            - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

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                            • #15
                              yeah, that makes sense. the national archives is a sturdily built building, but a nuclear blast nearby would still vaporize it.
                              That ain't what I meant, somebody else already torched the Constitution and all that's left are the ashes.

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