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The Daily Dish - 2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

The Gravest Threat

By The Daily Dish
Jan 14 2009, 4:14 AM ET

Armchair Generalist didn't like Hillary Clinton saying that: "The gravest threat that America faces is the danger that weapons of mass destruction will fall into the hands of terrorists." He grits his teeth:

I'm much more worried about the violence caused by drug wars on the southern US border, the current nukes in the hands of Pakistan, India, and Israel, and availability of firearms in DC than terrorist WMDs. But I guess I'm strange like that - you know, worrying about real threats instead of imaginary ones. Just once, I would like to hear a senior government official say, "Terrorism is a grave concern, one that requires international cooperation to face down and defeat. However, the United States of America will never collapse due to the efforts of terrorists, even if they obtain and use weapons of mass destruction. We are too strong and resilient a society for that to occur."

I'm all for understanding that we will never be able definitively to end the threat of terrorism in a free society. But firearms in DC more threatening than terrorist WMDs? I live in the District in a not-so-great area and I'm with Clinton in this one.



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