From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Sep 23 2002 - 13:02:28 MDT
--- Eugen Leitl <eugen@leitl.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Sep 2002 CurtAdams@aol.com wrote:
>
> > The odd thing to me is that the Iraq thread isn't suitable. Iraq
> > is a pretty classic case of the kind of thing we worry about
> > vis-a-vis nanotech or advanced biotech. An entity with
> demonstrated
>
> Any sentence with Iraq and anything advanced in it (well,
> interrogation techniques, maybe) is an oxymoron.
Gene is unfortunately, once again, wrong.
One word makes it so: Supergun.
Iraq, in the late 1980's, underwent a development program to build a
36" bore supergun (Dubbed the "Babylon") that would have been capable
of launching 1000 lb objects into orbit. A shorter, smaller test
version called the 'Baby Babylon' was tested with a range of 120 miles,
easily making it the most advanced artillery piece in history, and Iraq
the owner of it. (See, that wasn't so hard, Iraq and advanced in one
sentence... ;))
In a spate of good news/bad news, its designer, Canadian Dr. Gerald
Bull, was assasinated by Mossad agents a few months prior to the Gulf
War and Britain seized barrel segments that had been fabricated there
as 'oil pipe'.
>
> > willingness to use such a thing destructively and which has
> > worked on it in the past may be developing such thing for future
> > use. Said entity is shielding itself with various legal and moral
>
> Iraq? Nanotechnology?? You must be joking. Advanced R&D is a very
> sensitive orchid. It will shrivel up and die if one of its many
> requirements are violated. About every of them are violated in Iraq,
> and most other countries.
Depends on how much Iraq is willing to hire outside talent, and how
much outside talent is willing to work for Iraq. From the nannerings in
the UN and the EU, it seems that all of France, Germany, and Russia is
drooling at the possibility of working with Iraq. If the US doesn't get
UN approval (and doesn't wind up doing their own thing), I think it's
even money whether a bunch of europeans become Saddam's Nano R&D think tank.
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
http://sbc.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:17:14 MST