An American Hiroshima

I just finished reading "Al-Qaida nukes already in U.S.," by Joseph Farah. Farah's article claims that overseas terrorists have already smuggled nuclear weapons into this country, largely through the gaping hole between the United States and Mexico. I can't help but be sickened by the apparent confirmation of a fact many of us already believe to be true.

The silver lining, if there is one, is that the feds found out many of the chilling details shortly after 9-11 and have already built underground bunkers to protect our government's elite and, undoubtedly, their families. Whew. I feel better already.

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While Americans are busy with such frivolities as the plight of Michael Jackson or details of the latest "Survivor" episode, al-Qaida, steadfast and resolute, has placed or attained control over perhaps as many as 70 nuclear devices of varying sizes in strategic locations among countless millions of other average Joes like me. If the demons who possess the means to detonate these bombs actually carry out their plot to incinerate millions of us – and what's to stop them? – then whatever is left of this once great land will not be recognizable to those holding on to any semblance of life within it.

Farah went on to mention that the will-be murderers have a list of target cities, seven named major American cities in all. I breathed a restrained sigh of relief when my city was not included on the list. To be sure, we will all be affected profoundly and in every aspect of our lives as we will not have the monetary assets remaining to afford a decent burial for the victims, much less to rebuild what will be destroyed at each new Ground Zero.

The widespread effects of such a catastrophe, dubbed "The American Hiroshima," could never be fully calculated. In my wildest nightmares, I could only scratch the surface of something I never want to realize. After the initial shock quickly turns to rage, we will undoubtedly be seeing a country and its president even more poised for war than we are today, and justifiably so. Visions of the stock market plummeting to 25-year lows and oil becoming so scarce that gas prices triple overnight begin to flood my mind – this is certainly only the very beginning. As with all nuclear detonations, the fallout will be worse than the initial blast.

How do you begin to plan for such an event? Where do you turn? Whom would you attack if one could launch a pre-emptive strike to avoid the predicted doom? Where do we aim our retaliatory missiles? Do we contemplate the unthinkable and surrender? And to whom and on what terms? How could such evil succeed in the face of the greatest military might ever assembled by any earthly nation? I struggle to compare this feeling of helplessness to any other I have ever felt.

Monday morning armchair-quarterbacking, even at this stage, reeks of futility if indeed the weapons are in place and waiting for their respective marching orders. For this reason, I will resist any temptation to point blame – that is not my goal. If I do have a clear cut goal at this point, it is to plan for a prolonged period of sorrow and anguish as every surviving American would doubtless lose friends or loved ones somewhere, and to make any plans I could envision to transition into the long and arduous road ahead.

We may have long since passed the point of no return in our dealings with Satan and his al-Qaida minions, having woven death into the freedoms once enjoyed by those of us in this awesome nation. Still, I cannot believe that we are out of options. This might be a good time to resort to prayer: If anyone could stop such an atrocity, it would be almighty God Himself.

As I am only a writer and an average Joe, I will leave the necessary monumental decision-making to those who should be in the best position to extricate us from such daunting peril. Still, it wouldn't be a bad idea to be in church this Sunday.

Robert Petitt