Cohen’s warning

If any good has come from the recent showdown with Saddam Hussein over his secret stash of biological and chemical weapons, it might be the world’s realization that such secret stashes exist and are spreading.

That was the conclusion reached by Defense Secretary William Cohen as he released a Pentagon study this week on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. While the study focusses primarily upon renegade nations in the Middle East and North Africa now working overtime to develop these hideous weapons — especially the biological variety — and the missiles to deliver them, Cohen stressed that the threat reaches beyond the imperiled neighbors of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya to Main Street America.

“The front lines are no longer overseas, it can be any American city,” Cohen said, adding that criminal organizations, terrorist groups, even religious cults wanting to keep a date with the apocalypse may soon, if not already, have access to such weapons. The potential for blackmail is enormous, that for mass murder is staggering.

Which makes the United Nations’ coddling of Saddam not just short-sighted. It’s full-blown brain-dead. Forget about peace terms, sanctions, resolutions, promises, even sweetheart oil deals. Where’s that old survival instinct?

Rational nations need to learn, and fast, how to ferret out these weapons, to distinguish a baby food plant from one making anthrax, to determine the true nature and purpose of every test tube, beaker and computer printout in every suspicious lab. The world must tackle this menace and Saddam Hussein is eminently qualified to be its practice dummy. A no-stone-unturned approach also would have immediate benefit to the millions of unfortunate Iraquis who have to live under this lunatic.

The U.S. Congress also might use this troubling report as cause to reassess its own recent actions, namely, its end-of-session padding of the defense budget with nearly a half-billion in construction projects the Pentagon doesn’t want. Cohen estimates that beefing up detection, decontamination and emergency response equipment, as well as working more closely with National Guard, local police and firefighters on domestic attack preparedness could cost about $1 billion. The construction pork would be a decent downpayment.

For decades, mankind sweated out the threat of nuclear holocaust. Now, it appears the real danger is not megatons of explosives but five-pound sacks of viruses. If the world does not unite in self-preservation, the end may come not with a bang but with a sniffle.