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Tuesday, 28 November 2006 14:40 |
| Peter Probst
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By JIM GENARO
The United States has many vulnerabilities that make it an easy target for the global jihadist movement, according to Peter Probst.
The lecturer and former CIA agent addressed the World Affairs Council of Western North Carolina at UNC Ashevilleës Humanities Lecture Hall on Nov. 14.
Probst served in the CIA, specializing in terrorism, insurgency, political violence and narcotics trafficking for 20 years before he left to work for the Department of Defense.
Now he works for the Washington-based Institute for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. About 100 people attended the talk.
"Terrorists
have demonstrated that with a modicum of ingenuity, our own weapons
could be turned against us," he told the audience. This, he said, was
demonstrated by the attacks on 9/11.
One of the
greatest potential threats to the U.S. is the vulnerability of its
nuclear power facilities, Probst noted. If terrorists were able to
rupture the containers in which spent fuel rods are kept cool in
flowing water, a meltdown would occur, "functioning, in effect, as a
super dirty bomb," he said. "We would have our very own Chernobyl."
Such an attack could be carried out by the use of airplanes, Probst added.
However,
terrorists do not necessarily need to carry out such plans to
effectively create chaos and fear, he said, adding that "even the
credible threat of the use of aircraft in such a way would be enough to
ground air traffic across the U.S."
If the
government closed down air traffic too many times for threats that were
not carried out, it would lose credibility with the public, Probst
argued, making it less likely to take the necessary steps to protect
its citizens.
"In the future,
I suspect a third time, the government would be very reluctant to
evacuate mass populations," he said. "They could not afford to take
another hit like that."
Terrorism is a
form of psychological warfare, Probst told the audience. Jihadist
groups work not only to create fear, but also to sway public opinion.
"They try to create what I guess you could call a moral equivalence between what they do and what we do," he said.
He argued that
while the U.S. does kill civilians in Iraq and elsewhere, "that is not
the purpose of our actions." Terrorists, on the other hand,
specifically target civilian populations, he added.
"They are very good psychologists ÇƒÓ and they should be. Theyëve lived among us," Probst noted.
The ultimate
desire of many such groups is the acquisition of a nuclear bomb, he
said. However, merely possessing a nuclear weapon is more effective
than actually using one, Probst added.
"Once youëve
used a nuclear weapon, youëve kind of shot your wad," he joked. But "a
terrorist group with a nuclear weapon has tremendous power and
tremendous leverage."
The threat of a
chemical attack also presents a grave danger to the U.S., Probst said.
He quoted a statistic from the U.S. Government Accounting Office that
123 chemical factories in the country produce sufficient quantities of
toxins and are located in regions with a large-enough population that,
if attacked, they could release poisons that would kill a million
people or more. Eleven of those plants are in New Jersey and would most
certainly kill millions of New Yorkers in the event of a terrorist
attack, he said.
New York is an
especially desirable target for Islamic terrorists, Probst added,
because of its large Jewish population. Furthermore, it has already
been the site of two attacks by Osama Bin Laden, he noted.
"I think Bin
Laden will be back and I think he will target New York once again,"
Probst said. "I think heëll be back to finish the job."
Water supplies
are also highly vulnerable, he told the audience. Though many people
dismiss the idea of terrorists poisoning reservoirs due to the effects
of dilution and chlorine additives, Probst argued that city
distribution centers ÇƒÓ where less volume would allow for more
concentrated amounts of poison ÇƒÓ are still vulnerable. Furthermore, he
added, many cities do not use chlorine to kill bacteria in their water
supplies.
Another
potential attack could come in the form of a toxic compound of rat
poison and dimethyl sulfoxide, a compound that allows substances to be
easily passed through the skin into the bloodstream, Probst said. This
deadly mixture could then be applied to door handles of cars in public
places.
"People would be afraid to open doors," he said. "It could have a catastrophic effect."
College campuses
are one area where terrorists have made significant in-roads, he added.
Sometimes, students from the Middle East attending schools in the U.S.
are actually there to promote a jihadist agenda ÇƒÓ or even carry out
attacks, Probst said.
However, he cautioned against stereotyping all Muslims.
"Remember, there are radical mosques and regular mosques," Probst told the audience. "Most Muslims are not terrorists."
Nonetheless, he
added, radical Islam has made significant inroads into American
culture. "Itës a little-known factoid that until 9/11, the majority of
the money that Hamas accumulated was collected here in the U.S.,"
Probst said.
The jihadist
agenda has infiltrated the intellectual culture of the U.S., he added,
through the influence of extremists who pose as moderate academics and
try to get students to "see their issues through their lenses."
One example of
this, he said, is political correctness, which he termed "the best
example of how the best instincts of the American people can be turned
against us."
For instance, he
said, airport security agents should not hesitate to single out Muslim
men out of fear that their actions would be perceived as discriminatory.
"If Iëm looking
for a rapist, Iëm not going to question 60-year-old nuns," he said.
"Security needs to be made with common sense."
The War on
Terror is going to be a long, protracted fight, Probst added. "Fighting
terrorism is not a game for impatient people to play."
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