as pakistan continues to display political instability the washington post is reporting that u.s. government has made plans to snatch pakistan's nuclear arsenal to avoid it falling into the wrong hands. stopping nukes from being in wrong hands sounds great! but can it work?
the washington post article gives plenty of reasons to believe the answer is no. first, the arsenal is stored in a "half-dozen or so" different locations. and the u.s. doesn't actually know where those locations are or how the weapons are stored. i'm no expert, but not knowing where they are seems like a pretty fatal flaw in any snatch and grab plan.
but even if they could find them, is snatching 50 nuclear warheads and squirreling them out of the country even practically feasible? i mean, the operation would presumably be over the pakistanis' objections. i imagine that transporting a nuclear warhead has all kinds of practical challenges even under the best conditions. how would it work if you're trying to get away fast, under fire, in a country where you don't control the airspace? and even if there's a chance you could pull it off, you have to do it fifty times over. with nuclear weapons even screwing up once would be a total disaster.
again, i really don't understand all that this would entail or how reasonable such a plan would be. it just sounds like the crazy idea of someone who's seen too many rambo movies.
so maybe i'm wrong. but it is worth noting that the pakistanis are laughing.
