Word: lethal
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SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL and RIGHT YOU ARE are studies of one of the most active and lethal parts of the human anatomy, the wagging tongue. In Richard Sheridan's high comedy, a hive of busybodies is gleefully exposed and undone. In Luigi Pirandello's philosophical drama, a nest of vipers invades the privacy of a family and destroys the tenuous balance of their lives. The APA again...
Meselson believes that this argument breaks down when carefully examined. First, he says, one must realize that lethal and non-lethal are poles on a continuous spectrum of the effects of weapons. A weapon which is non-lethal can either temporarily incapacitate (like tear gas) or permanently maim. As long as it does not kill, it is non-lethal...
...lethal CB weapons would serve as an "opening wedge," Meselson fears, to a gradual movement along the spectrum in the direction of kill. This is not just a legal point -- although there are problems of which types of weapons are outlawed by which treaties -- but a practical one as well. The techniques of manufacture, the methods of distribution, and the logistics of employing the devices would be about the same for lethal and non-lethal CB weapons. Meselson says...
...There are individuals in every military," Meselson says, "who want to run the whole gamut of weapons." Having non-lethal weapons would not make war less lethal, he asserts. "It is a ridiculous assumption that giving field commanders weapons that don't need to kill means the commanders will not kill. What will happen is that non-lethal weapons will be used in conjunction with killers...
This distinction between the lethal and the non-lethal also leads to some touchy problems in international relations. If a country has a policy of using only non-lethal CB arms, Meselson says, only that country knows for sure it is a non-lethal policy. And there is, at this time, no biological equivalent for seismographic detection of nuclear testing, so suspicious nations could not find out what is actually being done in the enemy camp...