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PORT SECURITY
In this age of terrorist threats port security is
of major concern. Imagine one terrorist smuggling a bomb inside a
container bound for a U.S. port. Or
imagine many terrorists smuggling many bombs at many different times into U.S.
bound containers. With no means of detection as is now the case, widespread
waterfront worker death, almost irreparable damage to port facilities and
surrounding areas, long term disruption of international shipping and lengthy
unemployment on the docks, would mean disaster.
In the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, according to a
Seattle Post Intelligencer editorial, 9/21/04, "3.2 million containers
come through
the ports of Seattle and Tacoma and at least 3 million arrive without screening
or verification of their contents. Mic Dinsmore,
P.O.S Chief Executive doesn't exaggerate to worry that it 'would require only
one rogue container to bring commerce to its knees.'"
Naturally
this threat is of major concern to waterfront workers and our union, the
ILWU. The
national office of Homeland Security has so far offered little help, which is supposed to
be it’s
main concern. "Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has been a leading
advocate for
Operation Safe Commerce, a project to track containers
from origin to destination. But, Murray says, the administration has been pushing to
'privatize' the project by putting the onus on the shipping industry to support
the necessary technological transition. Such
an attempt
to shift the national security obligation from the government to the industry
offers a sharp contrast to the massive bailouts to the airline industry and
echoes Dinsmore's concern about the imbalance in expenditures that come up
dangerously short on marine security."
Foreign
Affairs magazine for Sept/Oct, 2004 points out in an article by
Peter G. Peterson that "Reducing the threat posed by cargo containers will
require another huge injection of government funds.
Only two percent of the roughly 20,000 containers
arriving each working day at 300 commercial ports are ever inspected by federal
authorities.
One recent
study concludes that the current odds
of detecting a shielded nuclear weapon inside a container are only about ten
percent. Closing all U.S. ports for more than a month in response to a mere
threat of smuggled WMD would throw the U.S. economy into recession.
The minimum estimated costs to remedy security flaws - including the
introduction of such measures as globally monitored packing, tamper proof seals,
and satellite tracking - would be $20 billion upfront, with an unknown yearly
investment needed after that."
If
you can say anything at all about the war against terrorism, one way or another
it is going to bankrupt us besides killing a lot of people unnecessarily.
If we had an ounce of common sense,
instead of
"Bush’s
empire dreams" and Vietnam type military blunders we would order a cease
fire, bring our troops home, and turn the job of solving world problems over to
the United Nations -which was originally created for that purpose.
Only in America......do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process
so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning
'bloodsucking
creatures'
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