Here’s a Day-Brightener For Ya!
By Mitch Berg
Israel is confronting the notion of the Iranian Bomb, as well as being surrounded by hostile neighbors with WMDs:
If a nuclear war between Israel and Iran were to break out 16-20 million Iranians would lose their lives – as opposed to 200,000-800,000 Israelis, according to a report recently published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which is headed by Anthony H. Cordesman, formerly an analyst for the US Department of Defense. The document, which is largely theoretical due to the lack of verified knowledge in some areas – specifically in terms of Israel’s nuclear capability – paints various scenarios and attempts to predict the strategies of regional powers, as well as the US.
The report assesses that a nuclear war would last approximately three weeks and ultimately end with the annihilation of Iran, due to Israel’s alleged possession of weapons with a far larger yield. Israel, according to the assessment, would have a larger chance of survival. The report does not attempt to predict how many deaths would eventually be caused by possible nuclear fallout.
Israel – which has had to fight for its very survival four times in the past sixty years, and that was after the Holocaust – takes survival fairly seriously, at least officially. They’re launching an ad campaign…:
One of the commercials features Gadi Sukenik, until recently anchorman for Channel 2 News. The campaign’s slogan is “Being ready means being protected.”
“The campaign is one of the main lessons we learned from the Second Lebanon War,” a senior HFC officer said Sunday. “This is our way of helping the public get ready for the possibility that war will break out in the future.”
The brochure provides details about potential conventional and nonconventional threats. It recommends that civilians prepare basic supplies – water, flashlights, batteries and plastic sealing paper – now, ahead of a possible missile attack on Israel.
…and a website (Hebrew and English).
I’m trying to picture the response to such a campaign in the US, even in the face of an imminent, mortal threat like Israel may face:
LIBERAL: “If someone bombs us, we probably deserve it.”
NEW YORKER: “Pffft. There’s nothing worth bombing west of the Hudson.”
TWIN CITIES DFLER/HIPSTER: “Tape? Tape? Hah! They said tape! Hahahahaha”
RESIDENT OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY: “There’s nothing worth bombing west of the Hudson”UTAHAN: “Self-sufficient for two weeks? Jeez, I carry that in my golf cart!”
NORTH DAKOTAN: “Batteries…candles…food…OK, limpd**k, what do you think this is, a blizzard? Where’s the guns?”
And so on.
