What do you think of this? And where might it be heading?

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Huge Homeland Security Drill Planned
'Dirty Bomb' in Seattle, Disease in Chicago Part of Scenario for May 12 Exercise

By Edward Walsh and John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, May 5, 2003; Page A09

This is the scenario: At noon in Seattle, a hidden bomb explodes south of the central business district, causing more than 100 casualties. Significant levels of radiation are detected near the site of the explosion and it soon becomes apparent to local officials that this was no ordinary bomb, but a radiological dispersal device, commonly known as a "dirty bomb."

The next day and some 2,000 miles to the east, people complaining of flu-like symptoms begin to trickle into hospitals in the Chicago area. Over the next 24 hours, the number of arriving patients escalates dramatically. Local officials diagnose the cause of the illness and ask the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to confirm their worst fear -- a deadly, biological agent has been released near Chicago.

These fictional events are set to unfold over five days beginning May 12 in what federal officials say will be the largest homeland security exercise in U.S. history. Dubbed TOPOFF 2 (for Top Officials), the exercise will cost an estimated $16 million and involve more than 100 federal, state and local agencies, the American Red Cross and Canadian government agencies and organizations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn...ge=printer
wow that sounds intense.. i reemmber during the leadup to the 2k olympics here in aus we had similar excercises aimed at terrorism in sydney. lots of military, police, medical and security involvemtent to prove we could deal with an attack. i guess at that time no one was worried about the possible large scale scenarios like the dirty bomb or mass infection meaning the excercises were a lot easier to co-ordinate.

i recall there being similar things after sept 11 but they were still directed at conventional bombs and possible anthrax scares i guess.

something on the scale you mentioned is uncomprehendable the amound of co-ordination that would go into it all. i guess its a good thing to go through the paces every now and then, but, huw much is this simply a publicity stunt/message to terror organisations and how much are they serious about being prepared?

surely its impossible to peform a drill that will be anywhere near the chaos of the acutal event if it happened.

is this going to lull people into a false sence of security?

if there are any problems in the operation i doubt they will come to light. after this things happens see what they report. "went off without a hitch" "flawless operation" "we are prepared"...

ever cynical ..
goku.
the irony is, that to date, the biggest military chemical disaster on americans, was their own doing.

during the second world war, in italy, a ship carrying hundreds of tons of mustard gas( being shipped to italy 'just in case' it was needed) was bombed by german planes. the resulting mustard gas leak spread into the air, and hundreds of british and american soldiers died, as well as possibly thousands of italian civillians. the germans never knew what was in the ship, they just saw a bunch of cargo ships unloading munitions and bombed away. the americans never admitted it until after the war. so as to deny the germans the propaganda.

this would still be my biggest fear. that something happens to the united states large stockpiles. (or any other nation that has them)

so i suppose tests like this are a good thing. if there was a majro disaster in a chemical weapons facility, or a nuclear meltdown (like at 3 mile island or chernobal) its best to be prepaired.

then theres the terrorist threat which is obviously very real.
yea i def hear both of you guys - but it makes me wonder.

i feel they are conditioning the populace into total submission through events which certain forces within our own govt orchestrated.

more problem - reaction - solution
yeah.

my country has no nukes, no nuclear powerplants, no chemical weapons, so there is no chance of them leaking or having an accident.

also my country has not had soldiers stationed in saudi arabia for the last 10 years, so we don't have osama bin laden chasing us down. we only get caught in the crossfire when he hits america and australia.

we don't do shit to piss people off, so we don't have people threatening us.

no problem - no reaction - no need for solution
i need to move to NZ.

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