Weapons of Mass Destruction; The No-Nonsense Guide to Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Weapons Today

London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good [DJ has some sticker residue]. [14], 283, [7] pages. Illustrations (some with color). Footnotes. Glossary. Bibliography. Robert Hutchinson began his career as a reporter, working first for regional newspapers, then for the Press Association, a news agency serving the media of Ireland and the United Kingdom. In time, he became a defense correspondent. Later, he joined the staff of Jane's Publishing, and he eventually became the director of the company's information group. He was responsible for its books, magazines, digital content and other publications. After leaving the company's staff, he went on to edit and revise Jane's Warship Recognition Guide, and he also wrote Jane's Submarines: War beneath the Waves: From 1776 to the Present Day. When Tom Lehrer sang 'We'll all go together when we go', the world was gripped by fear of nuclear holocaust. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the threat was assumed to have gone away. But Libya, Iraq, Iran and North Korea and others are building weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, biological and chemical. And terrorists are trying to get their hands on them too. The next live Scud missile launch could signal the next Hiroshima. Russia has enough weapons grade plutonium in poorly guarded facilities to make 20,000 atomic bombs. Osama bin Laden only needs one. Chemical weapons remain the 'poor man's nuke'. Saddam believed his chemical weapons saved him in the first Gulf War. Islamic fundamentalists have been preparing to use ricin for mass poisoning in London. Robert Hutchinson's measured account provides a straightforward guide to the weapons that threaten civilization. Every day rogue regimes and developing superpowers are building up arsenals of chemical, biological, and nuclear arms. While everything from anthrax to botulism to dirty bombs poses a threat, most of us are ignorant of the clear and present danger. Get to "know thy enemy" with this overview of the current world situation, written by a specialist in defense issues. From the mustard gas of World War I to the mushroom clouds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to Hussein's gassing of Iraqi Kurds, review the methodology and motivation behind historic attacks. Riveting accounts of the current crisis--from terrorist access to discarded stockpiles of deadly germs, to the potentially lethal nuclear one-upmanship between India and Pakistan, to North Korea's commitment to proliferation--make it clear that even if the Iraq situation is resolved, weapons of mass destruction remain a threat to national security and world stability.