Bioterrorism
Biological weapons can significantly change the battlefield. Today's leaders must always be on the watch for new threats that can arise in newly designed ways. The enemy is always planning to expose weaknesses in the defense. Biological weaponry is such a technology that can bring devastating effects and exploit weaknesses both tactically and strategically. The purpose of this essay is to examine the appeal of biological weapons to terrorist organizations. I will accomplish this by first defining what biological warfare is and give context to the usage of the idea of terrorism's relationship to these types of arms. I will then explore specific advantages and disadvantages to the use of biological warfare. By comparing and contrasting biological warfare to both nuclear and chemical warfare, the differences will be more clearly understood.
Defining Terms
Language and understanding must relate through common definitions and is important to discern between important terms in order to fully comprehend an argument with such enormous impact as biological warfare. According the Encyclopedia Britannica, biological warfare is "any of a number of disease-producing agents -- such as bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae, fungi, toxins, or other biological agents -- that may be utilized as weapons against humans, animals, or plants."[footnoteRef:1] It is important to note that unlike chemical weapons, biological weapons are living organisms that have great potential to both act in its own best interest of survival and replicate or reproduce. [1: Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/938340/biological-weapon (accessed 11 Jan, 2013).]
Terrorism is a more difficult term to understand because its usage is often used in many ways. Terrorism is essentially a tactic of warfare. It is psychological of nature and allows for rogue groups of minimal numbers to use such a tactic. Terrorism is often conflated with Islamic radicalism, often to the determent of clearer understanding. Any person or group of persons can become terrorists simply by utilizing the tactic in a strategic fashion. To emphasize the psychological impact of biological weapons, in a World War I incident, of 281 soldiers admitted to a referral center field hospital, 90 were true gas casualties and the rest were victims of "gas mania." Of the 5,510 persons who sought medical treatment from the 1995 sarin...
Having known the mounting dangers, many public health and bio-terrorism experts, members of Congress and some well-positioned Bush administration officials convey increasing discomfort about what they think are flaws in the country's bio-defenses. Over the earlier years, awareness steps have been made, mainly in the large cities. But most of necessary equipments are not available. The federal government's standard answer to the anthrax assaults of 2001 and the warning of
Perhaps the public has become somewhat desensitized by nuclear war, but the idea of unseen agents loosed in the water supply, or used to burn without fire, causes panic to a greater degree (Tucker, 2008, 112-15). An interesting paradigm regarding the fear factor involved in chemical and biological terrorism may surround the psychological issues that have surrounded the possibility of nuclear fear for decades, almost desensitizing people to it --
Combatting Future Terrorism Fighting future terrorism Over the years, the U.S.A. government and the entire world has been battling with the issue of terrorism. This is because the act of terrorism has diverse faces, from the rebel terrorists, the insurgents, bioterrorism to the religious sect terrorism. The U.S.A. has in particular been busy figuring out the various ways to not only stop the terrorism act before it happens, but more significantly to
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now