CHAPTER 11
Precise Assessments of Rivals
Vital in Asymmetric War Threat Environment
Jerrold M. Post and Barry R. Schneider
Rogue states and terrorist organizations, some armed with weapons of
mass destruction or geared to acquire them, pose a new and alarming
danger to the United States, its allies and vital interests. As the late U.S.
Air Force General Robert Linhard once observed, we are now entering an
era where small groups or even single individuals with WMD are now
capable of inflicting the kind of damage and casualties that once could
only have been inflicted by large and powerful states.
A new group of states and groups of concern, all with a common
unpleasant mix of traits, now face the United States as adversaries. States
like Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, and Syria, and terror groups such as al
Qaeda share a common lineage.
Each is a dictatorship or revolutionary group headed by a strong man
who rules largely by fear and coercion. Each is a state sponsor of
terrorism or is a terrorist group. Each is a self-professed extreme enemy of
the United States. Each of the “states of concern” possess at least one
form of weapon of mass destruction, and most pursue a mix of nuclear
explosives, radiological weapons, biological arms, and chemical weapons
for the future. There is also ample evidence of terrorist interest in
acquiring mass casualty weapons.
Each of these rogue nations or terrorist organizations is prone to
violent solutions to international problems and pose regional threats to
their neighbors, some of which are U.S. allies such as the Republic of
Korea, Israel, and the more moderate Arab states like Egypt, Jordan, and
Saudi Arabia.
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