Originally posted by Yeager
http://w3.newsmax.com/a/dayofislam/?PROMO_CODE=34BF-1
Sounds like a great sci-fi read: Seven nuclear weapons detonating in seven American cities, hastening the end of western civilization.....
No talk about retaliation, who/what would you retaliate against?
Blatant fear mongering, maybe.
End of western civilization as we know it? Probably.
Look at all the fears and knee-jerk reactions following 9/11. The Patriot Act. The public support to invade Iraq (which people seem to forget they supported, or blame on being "lied" to... another subject...). The new procedures and practices put in place in the airline industry.... where babies and the elderly in walkers were serious threats to security.
Multiply that by 7 nuclear attacks in major cities. Not to mention the radioactive fallout and EMP blast effects on modern technology. The loss of most major media, entertainment, news,... server farms and nodal areas of the internet taken out... food sources contaminated. Water sources contaminated. Livestock dying. Crops dying.
....or even just 2 high altitude blasts above the east and west coasts for the EMP effect. Several hundred airliners crashing to the Earth all across the nation like random bombs. The national power grid overloading and shutting down. The loss of electronic information and many modern electronic enabled devices for over half the nation.
Add to that the resulting economic panic. World wide depression. Loss of political and economic leaders. A huge power vacuum would result, with many tin-god despots ready to fill the void for their own gain. Looting. Price gouging. Hording. The survivors and dying would overwhelm any hope of providing medical care. Long term health effects. Large portions of the population experiencing "shell shock" and thus rendered non-productive.
To try and regain control, you'd be looking at draconian measures on the part of surviving military and civilian government. FEMA and National Guard efforts hampered due to equipment shortages and the loss of many of their members in the initial blasts. A reluctance for people to work anywhere near the blast sites as part of the rescue effort. Forced labor being a possible result, as well as conscription.
Several of those cities mentioned are major ports, so international trade would be disrupted. That means disruptions in food and energy supplies, and that is if a probably falling dollar against world currency could afford to buy anything.
I'm also betting such a ground strike would take out the national power grid altogether. The grid is too fragile.... a house of cards in many respects... that much EMP at major sites would have a cascade effect from coast to coast.
If such an event happened during the winter, you'd have to add mass numbers of dead due to the cold.... lacking oil, gas, or electricity for heat.
Retaliation? I think the need for proof under such a scenario goes out the window. The need for vengeance would probably see judicious use of the nuclear stockpile against All the Usual Suspects.
The United States military could keep it a world power under such a future, but I doubt the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and many of our freedoms would survive other than as part of official propaganda. There would be just too many people calling to be protected at all costs, and accept what would come in the short term.
