ABC's Ted Koppel "stunned" by Cohen's mention of "nuclear" as possible response to WTC attack

ABC News ^ | 9/12/01 | ABC Live Coverage

[ppaul]

About 5:50 am Pacific, ABC's Ted Koppel was being interviewed. He was in London. It was mentioned that before Koppel became famous for Nightline, he served as a correspondent covering the U.S. State Department. Koppel said he had been watching the ABC coverage this morning for a "couple of hours" and that he was "stunned" when he saw the interview early this morning of former Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, and Cohen mentioned the use of nuclear weapons among the list of possible responses to yesterday's terrorist attack. Koppel said it was the first time he ever recalls any high level person mentioning nuclear weapons as even a possibility.

[the808bass]

Noboby's going to miss Afghanistan.

On the Fox morning show, one of the hosts asked Cap Weinberger (I believe) what logistical or strategic problems attacking Afghanistan posed.

He didn't skip a beat. "None."

[Wyatt's Torch]

ONe of the things we might all be forgetting is that, if memory serves, we are just about slap out of conventional weapons such as cruise missiles. In order to do enough damage to make them suffer and think twice about doing it again, we would need a whole lot of conventional weapons. A few tactical nukes would be quite efficient if not environmentally conscious.

[dwjd]

Global warming? Yeah right! I just got the first and best laugh of the day. hahahaha

[Wyatt's Torch]

Well thanks Thomas. Care to explain why this options should not be considered?

FReegards

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Sorry- I didn't see your post the first time through. But IMHO, "Neutron Bombs" are still a viable option.

Before anyone gets all wobbly over this, ask yourselves one question- if ANY of the terrorist States mentioned above had a functioning nuclear weapon, and were SURE it's use would be blamed on some band of crazy terrorists, do you think they would hesitate for a minute in detonating it here or in Israel? I don't.

In fact, I see nuclear terrorism (by bomb, plutonium dust, or flying a jumbo jet into a nuclear power plant) as the next step in this war we find ourselves in. When that happens, we will be very sorry that we didn't put the fear of God into these morons when we had the chance!

[Common Tator]

No need to go nuclear. Carpet bombing with fuel/air bombs will solve the problem nicely, with no pesky radiation.

That is the dumbest thing I have ever seen posted. The Soviet Union Carpet bombed Afganistan to ZERO effect, except lots of Russian pilots died and downed Russian planes are all over Afganistan. There are dead MIGS everywhere. Don't you remember we supported Bin Laden and gave him all those Stinger missiles. He still has a bunch. He didn't use them all to defeat the Russians. Bin Laden defeated the Soviet Union just as the Vietnamese defeated us. The Soviet Union finally gave up and went home, just as we did in Vietnam. Why do you think PUTIN and the Russians are supporting us in this matter. They hope we will pay back Afganistan for the Russian's who died in their Vietnam style defeat.

Why do you think Clinton didn't go in there after him? BIN LADIN HAS LOTS OF OUR OWN MISSILES HE CAN USE TO SHOOT OUR BOMBERS DOWN. Clinton was well aware that it would take nukes to get Bin Lauden. That is why Colhen is laying the ground work for Bush. It is obvious that Bush asked him to do so.

You can only end the terrorism by destroying the cause! That may very well take NUKES! Your stupid advise would get a lot of American service men killed!

[dwjd]

And there will continue to be more imbeciles. If you can't beat us, join us!

[Protagoras]

I'm ready to kick ass and chew gum, and I'm all out of gum.

Cute little phrase. Kill a few million innocent people to get a few hundred of the perpetrators. (maybe) If you knew who they were.

Pretty brave talk for a true coward who advocates killing millions with an bomb while he sits in the comfort of his mobile home.

[JohnGaltFla]

I'm with you Wyatt. I can't wait to hear "Thomas Jefferson" give his "measured response" or "surgical strike" response. I'm sick and tired of wimps. This is no longer a time for the usual b.s. we've been hearing. It's time to make a point, not send just another damned message. And as a student of that region trust me, they will respect nothing less than an overwhelming response.

i.e., 4-5 well placed tactical nukes.

[spiker]

Goodbye Beirut ragheads!!

! 25 Mt Air Blast: Pressure Damage - Beirut -Lebanon

[JohnGaltFla]

You are an ignorant piece of shit. This is the typical response of a coward. Nuclear weapons are to save the lives of our brave soldiers. They crossed the rubicon, not us. Now let them pay.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

"...this is the same as Pearl Harbor..."

I understand your equating these events, but, actually, this is FAR worse. Pearl Harbor was an attack on a legitimate military target, carried out by normal military means. Civilians WERE killed, but they were not the primary targets- the Fleet and supporting installations were the targets. (Don't misunderstand- I'm not giving the Japanese a pass for Pearl Harbor!)

This is the foulest deed ever committed against us as a nation- and I have searched for something remotely comparable. The massacre in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge was as close as I could get- but even there, the atrocity was directed against soldiers. The Bataan Death March? I don't know.

[newzjunkey]

He's been (charity) fundraising in Australia while their Prime Minister has been in D.C. on a state visit. The Aus. gov't put a plane at his disposal but obviously he's not used it. FWIW, 3 Aussies confirmed dead. 58 are missing.

I was about to turn in when a friend of mine down in Sydney who I was chatting with at the time mentioned the WTC had been hit with a plane. They're getting fairly heavy coverage of this story there. College students at UNSW are seeing the news during classes, some programming is preempted. ABCNEWS and NBCNEWS are feeds being used by local non-cable stations.

NZ is also getting lots of coverage. My Kiwi friend's housemate was due to fly to L.A. yesterday just as this was happening. She was coming to visit her son. At first, the flight was to be diverted to Canada and ultimately pushed off until tonight.

This is being felt all around. I chatted with someone in Italy and other places. Stunned all around, "How could this happen?" he asked me.

[JohnGaltFla]

I apologize to everyone on the board but the person my last posting was directed at. I should not have used the profanity that I did, but it is appropriate.

[dwjd]

It really is a wonder why many here just do not understand what is going on! Some wanting to deal with gunfighters using slingshots, while others are concerned with the environment. Since yesterday I haven't posted here for a while. Is this still FreeRepublic??????

[George W. Bush]

Nuclear is an option, but an unlikely one. We should, however, declare war immediately on any nation-state harboring and supporting the terrorists involved -- and for the first time since WWII, allow our military to prosecute the war without political restrictions. Leave it to people like Cohen (who helped oversee the weakening of the military and intelligence apparatus) and Koppel (one of the media liberal lackies who applauded and encouraged it without a word of warning) to discuss this. Incinerate millions of innocents and perhaps never even get the persons responsible.

There will be no nukes unless we see nuke/bio/chem warfare against us. It would make the world far more dangerous for us and the other civilized nations.

Ultimately, we should expect to see a coalition of the First World nations along with Israel and a few of the "moderate" Arab states in support of our retaliation. Israel will play no overt military role but will use its human int resources to help us out since we don't have such resources and instead bought gadgets that are useless in this instance.

Our response will be an exercise in globalism. I'd very much prefer sole action under a declaration of war (providing we can prove this is state-sponsored or even state-tolerated terrorism).

---

Did you catch the haggard and guilty look on Clinton's face when he spoke from Australia? He knows he was derelict in his responsibility. He was too busy getting lewinskies to concern himself with the safety of his citizens. Bush has been in office only nine months and is still laboring under the final Clinton budget.

Clinton: his final legacy of office now revealed.

Hopefully, this is the last tragedy he has brought down upon us. I hate to admit that my sympathy for those is New York has been tempered by my anger that it was those who elect such people as Clinton that brought this upon the country. I don't like to think that. But it's hard to forget about entirely.