Instruments for detecting radiation, resting on a map of the New York area during a counterterrorism exercise to intercept radioactive "dirty bombs" in waterways near New York on April 7, 2011. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Bombs are scary. Bombs laced with radioactive materials—so called “dirty bombs”—seem even scarier. But the fear is misplaced. Exaggerated dread of dirty bombs and low-level radiation in general only magnifies terrorists’ power to sow panic while needlessly constraining U.S. military and homeland-security options.
Lawrence Solomon is an Epoch Times columnist, a former National Post and Globe and Mail columnist, and the executive director of Toronto-based Energy Probe and Consumer Policy Institute. He is the author of seven books, including “The Deniers,” a No. 1 environmental best-seller in both the United States and Canada.
