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Maybe we could capture these three ships and donate them, fully loaded, to North Korea as a gesture of our generosity.

There's a better, safer way to stop these ships than have been listed here so far. SEAL teams? Even the SEAL's would have a tough time boarding a vessel with any stealth while the vessel is under power in the open ocean. Torpedoes? A 35,000 ton ship is BIG, and it probably has multiple sealed holds. Sinking it quickly would require a quick series of torpedo strikes, and even then the chance that Achmed could set some of it off is pretty great. E-Bombs? Experimental, and they only take out the electronics. There's nothing to stop Achmed from sticking the posts of a battery into an explosive charge, detonating it manually. There's also a chance Achmed could just power cycle the equipment and bring it back online.

And what about conventional nukes? Sure, they'd work, but you have two problems 1) We really don't know what kind of nasties are on this ship. Some types of WMD's can survive a nuclear blast, and could go on to do major damage to those downwind (remember, we have a LOT of troops in that area). 2) Detonating a traditional nuclear weapon against a foreign flagged vessel in non-Iraqi waters could createsome huge international political problems that we'd probably be better off avoiding. As much as I could care less about the Quatari people, detonating a nuke right off their coast probably isn't a good idea.

Why deal with this when we already have the perfect weapon? Tactical Neutron Bombs. They'll fry any electronics on board, kill the crew instantly, and yet leave the ship and its precious cargo unharmed. We could then take the ship over at our leisure, and parade our "trophies" in front of the world to show them just how stupid they're being. For those not familiar with neutron bombs, here's a definition I found on the web:

Neutron bombs are a specialized type of small thermonuclear weapon that produces minimal blast and heat but which releases large amounts of lethal radiation. The neutron bomb delivers blast and heat effects that are confined to an area of only a few hundred yards in radius. But within a somewhat larger area it throws off a massive wave of neutron and gamma radiation, which can penetrate armour or several feet of earth. This radiation is extremely destructive to living tissue. Because of its short-range destructiveness and the absence of long-range effect, the neutron bomb would be highly effective against tank and infantry formations on the battlefield but would not endanger cities or other population centres only a few miles away. It can be carried in a Lance missile or delivered by an 8-inch (200-millimetre) howitzer, or possibly by attack aircraft.

During the Defense Department briefing this morning one of the last questions to Rumsfield was about these three ships and Rumsfield and Myers both said something to the effect that they keep hearing this but they can't verify anything like it and haven't heard anything about it.

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