Cortlandt wrote:

> Some on this list seem to claim ignorance of what WMD means.   This is my
> bias but I find it hard to believe that someone interested in peace would
be
> ignorant of it's meaning.


Since I am the person who posted the query to the list for a definition of
the
phrase, I will respond:

What I believe a weapon of mass destruction to be and what the President
believes a weapon of mass destruction to be and what the UN inspectors
believe a weapon of mass destruction to be are ALL DIFFERENT THINGS.

I believe that something that can kill "a group of people" (let's grab the
number
ten out of the air) may not be a weapon of mass destruction; but something
which can cause the level of damage which accompanies a plume of smoke
rising 10,000 feet in the air DOES qualify.

The website you included lists nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons,
and the general category "missiles".  There is no mention of conventional
weapons capable of destroying city blocks and killing thousands of people;
and in the debates of our current sociopolitical climate, "they don't
count";
but I believe they are weapons of mass destruction.

I am not "ignorant of the meaning" of the phrase.  In fact, since there
seems
to be no textbook definition, my connotation of the word is the most valid
one to me and therefor *is* the meaning.  Whether or not I am interested
in peace has nothing to do with it.

Further, from the range of posts that followed my query, I would say that
there are many others on the list who also have their own meaning for the
phrase.  I was merely the one who pointed out there seemed not to be a
standard definition.

Rs~

Russ Smith
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