Great news: we can downsize the CIA, fire all of our newly-hired intelligence operatives overseas and use our duct-tape supplies to keep the kids’ noise down because the UN passed a resolution banning terrorists from having or threatening to use nuclear weapons.
The war on terrorism is now OVER:
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. General Assembly approved a global treaty Wednesday aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism by making it a crime for would-be terrorists to possess or threaten to use nuclear weapons or radioactive material.
A resolution adopted by the 191-member world body by consensus calls on all countries to sign and ratify the “International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.” The treaty will be opened for signatures on Sept. 14 and must be ratified by 22 countries to come into force.
“By its action today, the General Assembly has shown that it can, when it has the political will, play an important role in the global fight again terrorism,” U.S. deputy ambassador Stuart Holliday told delegates after the vote. “The nuclear terrorism convention, when it enters into force, will strengthen the international legal framework to combat terrorism.”
We are sure terrorist groups are going to halt their efforts to find some way to incinerate American cities (or the whole country) now that this resolution has been passed, because the resolution makes it clear to them that having nuclear weapons and threatening to use them would be wrong. More:
Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Alexander Konuzin, whose country sponsored the resolution, hailed it’s approval.
“It’s the first time that an anti-terrorist convention has been developed on the basis of preventing — that is not after the fact but before the terrorist acts which are criminalized by this convention,” he said.
The treaty makes it a crime for any person to possess radioactive material or a radioactive device with the intent to cause death or injury, or damage property or the environment. It would also be a crime to damage a nuclear facility.
Threatening to use radioactive material or devices — or unlawfully demanding nuclear material or other radioactive substances would also be a crime. Accomplices and organizers would also be covered by the convention.
Countries that are parties to the treaty would be required to make these acts criminal offenses under their national laws, “punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account the grave nature of these offenses.”
How about this penalty: Force them to watch the UN pass useless resolutions….
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.