Dirty War, Dirty Bomb: A Scary Movie

I'm sure you didn't catch this on the television last night, Bush, because you were probably on your way to visit your old pal Vladimir Putin (how's that going, by the way?) But the BBC/HBO production of the drama "Dirty War" was an absolute stunner, and an eye-opener to boot. I trust your people will have you see it. I trust more people will get to see it than the relatively small audience on PBS, where it was aired. If it were up to me, I'd have the whole country see it. Because what it shows is vital knowledge for everyone in today's dangerous world.

The plot? A network of terrorist cells plots a dirty bomb attack in Central London. The intelligence system makes frantic efforts, but fails to foil the plot. The bomb explodes. A second bomb team, set to follow the first, is located and killed. Too late. Many people are killed, many more injured, and many, many more contaminated by radiation. Several square miles in the center of the city have to be quarantined for thirty years at a minimum. Businesses are ruined. Lives destroyed. A number of the terrorists are captured. Again, too late.

It's a film about preparedness, Bush. The terrorist cells prepare with terrifying and meticulous efficiency. They're in no hurry. Their time will come. The authorities stage hopelessly inadequate scenarios. They fail to provide the adequate resources. They squabble amongst each other. They play politics. They lose. The City of London loses. The people lose.

It's a scary movie, Bush. And utterly convincing. We believe it that the terrorists have access to the materials they need. We believe their unswerving motivation. We believe their deadly efficiency. We believe they can succeed. We believe the inadequacy of the disaster services in the aftermath: how to provide decontamination facilities for tens of thousands of panicked people, and contain them from breaking out from the immediate area and taking their contamination home with them.

The airing was followed by a panel discussion amongst distinguished and authoritative panelists, and by intelligent, thoughtful audience questions. The highlights: here in the U.S., we need to assure the proper allocation of resources, with nationally accredited experts to assure that they not wasted or misspent. We need to create an intelligence system better prepared to provide prevention. We need an increased awareness in the public at large, so that the response to any future catastrophe can be active rather than reactive. We need more operational funds, better equipment for first-response teams, more trained personnel. We need a health care system equipped to deal with a large scale emergency. What has been done to date is clearly not an adequate response to the threat.

Despite what you often like to say, the world seems to me a whole lot less safe today than it was in the Cold War era, Bush. Back then, the number of folks who could pull off an act like the one in "Dirty War" was limited and controlled. The fingers on the trigger were easily identifiable and few in number. Today, it seems, we are surrounded by anonymous enemies, with the power to do inestimable damage. And these enemies have multiplied exponentially under your watch. You may be, as you have famously said, a "war president". The question is, to what extent you yourself have caused the extension of the war you want to defend us from. How many more implacable and nameless terrorists have you helped create, throughout the world, with your invasion and occupation of Iraq?

A reader who would, I'm sure, prefer to remain unnamed came up with an interesting metaphor. "It's Bush," she said, "who is the dirty bomb." And, given the alarming spread of toxins in the world in the years of your presidency, I'm afraid there's an awful grain of truth in her perception.