Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Megan Smith and Bernie Zipprich: Justice, Not Bullets, Will Beat al Qaida

Megan Smith and Bernie Zipprich, interns at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, published an op-ed in The Topeka Capital-Journal. To tease you:

We are losing the fight against terrorism, but it should come as no surprise. Six years and two wars after 9/11, the United States continues to wage war with bullets against an ideology. Once confined to the foothills of Afghanistan, today al Qaida is more popular and widespread than ever. It has been joined by loosely affiliated splinter groups throughout the Middle East, Europe, and the world. In the past few weeks alone, al Qaida affiliates have attempted to detonate car bombs in London, exploded a car bomb in Glasgow, murdered six Spanish tourists in Yemen, and killed scores in Iraq.

You can read the whole op-ed at the TCJ website.

Understanding the way terrorists think is key these days, especially with some terrorist groups on the hunt for their own personal stock of nukes. Congress seems concerned as well, as evidenced by the recently passed Title XVIII of HR 1, "Preventing Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism", which was approved by the Senate-House Conference this past week.

I have been working on a detailed summary of Title XVIII with Leonor Tomero, the Center’s Director of Nuclear Non-Proliferation, which I will post when complete. If you want more information now, you can check out the bullet summary posted by Jeff last week or the full 410 page Conference Report released by Congress, which provides an explanation of the entire HR 1 bill.

If you would rather crack open your Harry Potter book than read 410 pages of dreary legislative language, another option to get information on the bill is talking with me at tomorrow's "Think and Drink" instead!

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