[iwar] [fc:The.Real.Deal.about.Nuclear,.Biological,.and.Chemical.Attacks]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-13 19:53:25


Return-Path: <sentto-279987-2927-1003028008-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com>
Delivered-To: fc@all.net
Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Sat, 13 Oct 2001 19:54:08 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (qmail 23658 invoked by uid 510); 14 Oct 2001 02:53:13 -0000
Received: from n12.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.62) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 14 Oct 2001 02:53:13 -0000
X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-2927-1003028008-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com
Received: from [10.1.1.220] by n12.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 14 Oct 2001 02:53:28 -0000
X-Sender: fc@big.all.net
X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com
Received: (EGP: mail-7_4_1); 14 Oct 2001 02:53:27 -0000
Received: (qmail 44958 invoked from network); 14 Oct 2001 02:53:27 -0000
Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by 10.1.1.220 with QMQP; 14 Oct 2001 02:53:27 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta3 with SMTP; 14 Oct 2001 02:53:26 -0000
Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id TAA10157 for iwar@onelist.com; Sat, 13 Oct 2001 19:53:25 -0700
Message-Id: <200110140253.TAA10157@big.all.net>
To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List)
Organization: I'm not allowed to say
X-Mailer: don't even ask
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1]
From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com
Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 19:53:25 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [iwar] [fc:The.Real.Deal.about.Nuclear,.Biological,.and.Chemical.Attacks]
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Subject: The Real Deal about Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Attacks

Forwarded to the list as a public service by:

Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of
chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I decided to write
a paper and keep things in their proper perspective.  I am a retired
military weapons, munitions, and training expert. 

Lesson number one: In the mid 1990's there were a series of nerve gas
attacks on crowded Japanese subway stations.  Given perfect conditions
for an attack less than 10% of the people there were injured (the
injured were better in a few hours) and only one percent of the injured
died.  60 Minutes once had a fellow telling us that one drop of nerve
gas could kill a thousand people, well he didn't tell you the thousand
dead people per drop was theoretical.  Drill Sergeants exaggerate how
terrible this stuff was to keep the recruits awake in class (I know this
because I was a Drill Sergeant too).  Forget everything you've ever seen
on TV, in the movies, or read in a novel about this stuff, it was all a
lie (read this sentence again out loud!)! These weapons are about
terror, if you remain calm, you will probably not die.  This is far less
scary than the media and their "Experts," make it sound. 

Chemical weapons are categorized as Nerve, Blood, Blister, and
Incapacitating agents Contrary to the hype of reporters and politicians
they are not weapons of mass destruction they are "Area denial," and
terror weapons that don't destroy anything.  When you leave the area you
almost always leave the risk.  That's the difference; you can leave the
area and the risk; soldiers may have to stay put and sit through it and
that's why they need all that spiffy gear. 

These are not gasses, they are vapors and/or air borne particles.  The
agent must be delivered in sufficient quantity to kill/injure, and that
defines when/how it's used.  Every day we have a morning and evening
inversion where "stuff," suspended in the air gets pushed down.  This
inversion is why allergies (pollen) and air pollution are worst at these
times of the day.  So, a chemical attack will have it's best effect an
hour of so either side of sunrise/sunset.  Also, being vapors and
airborne particles they are heavier than air so they will seek low
places like ditches, basements and underground garages.  This stuff
won't work when it's freezing, it doesn't last when it's hot, and wind
spreads it too thin too fast.  They've got to get this stuff on you, or,
get you to inhale it for it to work.  They also have to get the
concentration of chemicals high enough to kill or wound you.  Too little
and it's nothing, too much and it's wasted.  What I hope you've gathered
by this point is that a chemical weapons attack that kills a lot of
people is incredibly hard to do with military grade agents and equipment
so you can imagine how hard it will be for terrorists.  The more you
know about this stuff the more you realize how hard it is to use. 

We'll start by talking about nerve agents.  You have these in your
house, plain old bug killer (like Raid) is nerve agent.  All nerve
agents work the same way; they are cholinesterase inhibitors that mess
up the signals your nervous system uses to make your body function.  It
can harm you if you get it on your skin but it works best if they can
get you to inhale it.  If you don't die in the first minute and you can
leave the area you're probably gonna live.  The military's antidote for
all nerve agents is atropine and pralidoxime chloride.  Neither one of
these does anything to cure the nerve agent, they send your body into
overdrive to keep you alive for five minutes, after that the agent is
used up.  Your best protection is fresh air and staying calm.  Listed
below are the symptoms for nerve agent poisoning.  Sudden headache,
Dimness of vision (someone you're looking at will have pinpointed
pupils), Runny nose, Excessive saliva or drooling, Difficulty breathing,
Tightness in chest, Nausea, Stomach cramps, Twitching of exposed skin
where a liquid just got on you. 

If you are in public and you start experiencing these symptoms, first
ask yourself, did anything out of the ordinary just happen, a loud pop,
did someone spray something on the crowd? Are other people getting sick
too?

Is there an odor of new mown hay, green corn, something fruity, or
camphor where it shouldn't be?

If the answer is yes, then calmly (if you panic you breathe faster and
inhale more air/poison) leave the area and head up wind, or, outside. 
Fresh air is the best "right now antidote".  If you have a blob of
liquid that looks like molasses or Kayro syrup on you; blot it or scrape
it off and away from yourself with anything disposable.  This stuff
works based on your body weight, what a crop duster uses to kill bugs
won't hurt you unless you stand there and breathe it in real deep, then
lick the residue off the ground for while.  Remember they have to do all
the work, they have to get the concentration up and keep it up for
several minutes while all you have to do is quit getting it on you/quit
breathing it by putting space between you and the attack. 

Blood agents are cyanide or arsine which effect your blood's ability to
provide oxygen to your tissue.  The scenario for attack would be the
same as nerve agent.  Look for a pop or someone splashing/spraying
something and folks around there getting woozy/falling down.  The
telltale smells are bitter almonds or garlic where it shouldn't be.  The
symptoms are blue lips, blue under the fingernails rapid breathing.  The
military's antidote is amyl nitride and just like nerve agent antidote
it just keeps your body working for five minutes till the toxins are
used up.  Fresh air is the your best individual chance

Blister agents (distilled mustard) are so nasty that nobody wants to
even handle it let alone use it.  It's almost impossible to handle
safely and may have delayed effect of up to 12 hours.  The attack
scenario is also limited to the things you'd see from other chemicals. 
If you do get large, painful blisters for no apparent reason, don't pop
them, if you must, don't let the liquid from the blister get on any
other area, the stuff just keeps on spreading.  It's just as likely to
harm the user as the target.  Soap, water, sunshine, and fresh air are
this stuff's enemy. 

Bottom line on chemical weapons (it's the same if they use industrial
chemical spills); they are intended to make you panic, to terrorize you,
to heard you like sheep to the wolves.  If there is an attack, leave the
area and go upwind, or to the sides of the wind stream.  They have to
get the stuff to you, and on you.  You're more likely to be hurt by a
drunk driver on any given day than be hurt by one of these attacks. 
Your odds get better if you leave the area.  Soap, water, time, and
fresh air really deal this stuff a knock-out-punch.  Don't let fear of
an isolated attack rule your life.  The odds are really on your side. 

Nuclear bombs.  These are the only weapons of mass destruction on earth. 
The effects of a nuclear bomb are heat, blast, EMP, and radiation.  If
you see a bright flash of light like the sun, where the sun isn't, fall
to the ground! The heat will be over a second.  Then there will be two
blast waves, one out going, and one on it's way back.  Don't stand up to
see what happened after the first wave; anything that's going to happen
will have happened in two full minutes. 

These will be low yield devices and will not level whole cities.  If you
live through the heat, blast, and initial burst of radiation, you'll
probably live for a very very long time.  Radiation will not create
fifty foot tall women, or giant ants and grass hoppers the size of
tanks.  These will be at the most 1 kiloton bombs; that's the equivalent
of 1,000 tons of TNT.  Here's the real deal, flying debris and radiation
will kill a lot of exposed (not all!) people within a half mile of the
blast.  Under perfect conditions this is about a half mile circle of
death and destruction, but, when it's done it's done.  EMP stands for
Electro Magnetic Pulse and it will fry every electronic device for a
good distance, it's impossible to say what and how far but probably not
over a couple of miles from ground zero is a good guess.  Cars, cell
phones, computers, ATMs, you name it, all will be out of order. 

There are lots of kinds of radiation, you only need to worry about
three, the others you have lived with for years.  You need to worry
about "Ionizing radiation," these are little sub atomic particles that
go whizzing along at the speed of light.  They hit individual cells in
your body, kill the nucleus and keep on going.  That's how you get
radiation poisoning, you have so many dead cells in your body that the
decaying cells poison you.  It's the same as people getting radiation
treatments for cancer, only a bigger area gets radiated.  The good news
is you don't have to just sit there and take it, and there's lots you
can do rather than panic.  First; your skin will stop alpha particles, a
page of a news paper or your clothing will stop beta particles, you just
gotta try and avoid inhaling dust that's contaminated with atoms that
are emitting these things and you'll be generally safe from them. 

Gamma rays are particles that travel like rays (quantum physics makes my
brain hurt) and they create the same damage as alpha and beta particles
only they keep going and kill lots of cells as they go all the way
through your body.  It takes a lot to stop these things, lots of dense
material, on the other hand it takes a lot of this to kill you. 

Your defense is as always to not panic.  Basic hygiene and normal
preparation are your friends.  All canned or frozen food is safe to eat. 
The radiation poisoning will not effect plants so fruits and vegetables
are OK if there's no dust on em (rinse em off if there is).  If you
don't have running water and you need to collect rain water or use water
from wherever, just let it sit for thirty minutes and skim off the water
gently from the top.  The dust with the bad stuff in it will settle and
the remaining water can be used for the toilet which will still work if
you have a bucket of water to pour in the tank. 

Finally there's biological warfare.  There's not much to cover here. 
Basic personal hygiene and sanitation will take you further than a
million doctors.  Wash your hands often, don't share drinks, food,
sloppy kisses, etc., ...  with strangers.  Keep your garbage can with a
tight lid on it, don't have standing water (like old buckets, ditches,
or kiddie pools) laying around to allow mosquitoes breeding room.  This
stuff is carried by vectors, that is bugs, rodents, and contaminated
material.  If biological warfare is so easy as the TV makes it sound,
why has Saddam Hussein spent twenty years, millions, and millions of
dollars trying to get it right? If you're clean of person and home you
eat well and are active you're gonna live. 

Overall preparation for any terrorist attack is the same as you'd take
for a big storm.  If you want a gas mask, fine, go get one.  I know this
stuff and I'm not getting one and I told my Mom not to bother with one
either (how's that for confidence).  We have a week's worth of cash,
several days worth of canned goods and plenty of soap and water.  We
don't leave stuff out to attract bugs or rodents so we don't have them. 

These people can't conceive a nation this big with this much resources. 
These weapons are made to cause panic, terror, and to demoralize.  If we
don't run around like sheep they won't use this stuff after they find
out it's no fun.  The government is going nuts over this stuff because
they have to protect every inch of America.  You've only gotta protect
yourself, and by doing that, you help the country. 

Finally, there are millions of caveats to everything I wrote here and
you can think up specific scenarios where my advice isn't the best. 
This letter is supposed to help the greatest number of people under the
greatest number of situations.  If you don't like my work, don't nit
pick, just sit down and explain chemical, nuclear, and biological
warfare in a document around three pages long yourself.  This is how we
the people of the United States can rob these people of their most
desired goal, your terror.

------------------
http://all.net/ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:55 PST