A new, American w.m.d. doctrine: Would it deter a nuclear 9/11?

The U.S. could help prevent WMD-based terrorism by pledging to retaliate against nations that promote the jihadist ideology.

by Moorthy Muthuswamy in Pajamas Media; September 25, 2009

Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, an architect of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, declared that Pakistan’s nuclear bombs are “the property of a whole ummah [worldwide Muslim community],” so that some Muslim nations or groups could use them on infidels to bring about “the end of days” and lead the way for Islam to be the supreme religious force in the world. A.Q. Khan, the former head of Pakistan’s nuclear program, proliferated nuclear bomb-making technology exclusively to Islamic states such as Libya or Iran with just one exception: he transferred this technology to North Korea in exchange for its missile technology for Pakistan. . . .

The root cause of the WMD attacks lies in the longstanding pattern of hateful indoctrination and funding of the communities from which WMD attacks may originate. In a 2005 speech, the U.S. Treasury secretary made this observation about the Saudi export of terrorist ideologies:

“In addition to the export of terrorist funds, we are extremely concerned about the export of terrorist ideologies. These teachings are as indispensable to terrorists as money, and possibly even more dangerous.”

Mohamed ElBaradei ran IAEA '97-'09

For instance, the funding and indoctrination of Muslim communities throughout the world carried out by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iran have given rise to the likes of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hezbollah, and many other terror entities. The point couldn’t be overstated: without this root cause, the desire for and ability to wage jihad and, hence, the intent to acquire and use WMD are very unlikely.


In the above context, a nuanced and strong declaratory policy has to go beyond merely singling out those who may have either enabled or facilitated terrorists into obtaining or using the WMD, but also declare the intent to retaliate disproportionately and devastatingly against those states, societies, or groups that have been engaged in the hateful indoctrinating process noted in the previous paragraph. Such a response has the best potential to create “black swan”-like trend-changing events, in order to compel these communities to evolve differently in a non-confrontational and constructive direction.

The above approach is justified on the basis that a WMD-based genocidal mass attack on innocent civilians and others by terrorist entities requires far-reaching measures of accountability, both at personal and community levels.

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