Re: Anthony Cordesman assessment of Mid-East nuclear exchange
What, exactly, Mr. Cordesman defines as "will survive" is something he doesn't discuss in this article.
Such an exchange of nuclear weaponry between Israel and any of her neighbors, will leave in the aftermath a region of the Earth in which any survivors will envy those who perished in the initial detonations.
All electronic equipment of any kind will be defunct; including computers, phones, automobiles.
The number of burn victims and trauma victims caused by collapsing structures, broken glass flying through the air, will be more than any available hospitals or doctors (considering, of course, that any will remain standing; which is most doubtful) could possibly help and treat.
Of those burn victims and trauma victims who may remain alive after the first few days, most will soon succumb to the effects of absorbing lethal amounts of radiation; their hair will fall out, they will develop nausea, and most will succumb to leukemia within weeks.
Of those that remain alive after several weeks, the majority will begin developing other fatal cancers, such as cancers of the thyroid, breast, bone, lungs, etc...
Little if any food products or drinking water will remain, and of those, little if any will remain uncontaminated.
Radioactive fallout will quickly begin raining down from the sky, the wind patterns being the sole determinant as to which areas below are blanketed with it.
These dustlike particles will kill anyone exposed to them for up to two weeks, unless they are in underground stocked bunkers during that period.
After the first two weeks, underground survivors will only be able to go above ground for 10 to 30 minutes before returning to shelter.
As each day passes, the radioactivity of the fallout will diminish.
Even when it allows survivors access above ground, they will be receiving heavy amounts of radiation, but for such short periods that immediate effects on health will not be seen.
The only sentence in Cordesman's article which should be taken seriously is the last one; stating "...the only way to win, is not to play...".
In my opinion, The State of Israel is so small a land area that withstanding of nuclear detonations in Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, and Haifa, will mean the end of The Jewish State.
It is true that human beings can survive a nuclear exchange, but that is only if they are underground in blast-proof fallout shelters which are equipped to sustain life for several weeks.
I've read that Olmert & friends have built their own "Survival Bunker" deep beneath the Jerusalem hills, so that the government and military leadership will survive any coming nuclear war. As to the remaining population within Israel, Olmert & buddies aren't the least bit interested in them.
*The Bush Administration has done the exact same...made sure that they and their immediate families, together with Cabinet members & Military leaders, will all survive deep in fully stocked underground cities which already exist. Seems the American government also isn't the least concerned with the American population surviving either.