{"id":12910,"date":"2021-03-02T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=12910"},"modified":"2021-03-01T17:39:23","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T01:39:23","slug":"was-covid-19-our-neutron-bomb-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/was-covid-19-our-neutron-bomb-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Was COVID-19 Our Neutron Bomb?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, furor arose over our possible use of the \u201cneutron bomb\u201d that macabrely would \u201ckill people, but not destroy property.\u201d The logic of the perverse weapon was that on allied and friendly European ground, outnumbered defensive NATO troops might radiate and destroy invading masses of Soviet armored troops by periodic detonations of low-yield thermonuclear shells, rockets, and bombs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ensuing blasts of heat would sear flesh, but would lack commensurate repercussion power to destroy most structures and buildings, and leave far smaller toxic radiation trails. In eerie&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dr._Strangelove\">Strangelovian<\/a>&nbsp;terms, once the enemy was finished off, returning friendly troops and populations could sort their way among the mass dead to find their infrastructure intact\u2014without \u201ccollateral\u201d damage or fear of serious radiation sickness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In some ways, COVID-19 was our neutron bomb. When we reach the now politically incorrect, taboo term \u201cherd immunity\u201d through vaccinations and antibodies, and when the virus ceases to be a pandemic, the lethal tally may have exceeded 600,000 Americans.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If so, the nation will have lost more countrymen than were killed in World War I and World War II combined\u2014with thousands more suffering disabilities, from \u201clong haul Covid\u201d to stress and psychological impairment from losing livelihoods and lockdown cabin fever.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amgreatness.com\/2021\/02\/28\/was-covid-19-our-neutron-bomb\/\">Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness In the 1970s and 1980s, furor arose over our possible use of the \u201cneutron bomb\u201d that macabrely would \u201ckill people, but not destroy property.\u201d The logic of the perverse weapon was that on allied and friendly European ground, outnumbered defensive NATO troops might radiate and destroy invading masses of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-3me","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12907,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/was-covid-19-our-neutron-bomb\/","url_meta":{"origin":12910,"position":0},"title":"Was COVID-19 Our Neutron Bomb?","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness In the 1970s and 1980s, furor arose over our possible use of the \u201cneutron bomb\u201d that macabrely would \u201ckill people, but not destroy property.\u201d The logic of the perverse weapon was that on allied and friendly European ground, outnumbered defensive NATO troops might radiate\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7900,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bomb-occupy-or-neither\/","url_meta":{"origin":12910,"position":1},"title":"Bomb, Occupy, or Neither?","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Blowing apart a problem for a while is different from ending it for good. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online Wars usually end only when the defeated aggressor believes it would be futile to resume the conflict. Lasting peace follows if the loser is then forced to change\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Terrorism&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Terrorism","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/war-on-terror\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/pic_giant_1001214_SM_Hornets-Over-Iraq_0-500x291.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12337,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/our-corona-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":12910,"position":2},"title":"Our \u2018Corona Project\u2019","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Whatever\u00a0we eventually call it, there is a coronavirus \u201cproject.\u201d ChemotherapyIt\u2019s a race to identify the origins, nature, and danger of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the best way to treat, vaccinate against, and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 disease \u2014 all without destroying America\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13696,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/eeyore-s-corner-from-hippies-to-yuppies-to-our-puppies\/","url_meta":{"origin":12910,"position":3},"title":"Eeyore \u2019s Corner: From Hippies to Yuppies to Our Puppies","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Private Papers Part One: Hippiedom The Sixties were, as the late, great Peter Collier and the astute David Horowitz wrote, the work of a \u201cDestructive Generation.\u201d Some of the best minds of the conservative movement who lived through those wasted years chronicled their excesses\u2014the narcissism, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 14 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 14 comments","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/eeyore-s-corner-from-hippies-to-yuppies-to-our-puppies\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/HippiesWalking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7669,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-tranquility\/","url_meta":{"origin":12910,"position":4},"title":"Obama\u2019s Tranquility","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJMedia Barack Obama\u2019s team recently took credit for improving the \u201ctranquility of the global community,\u201d and the president made it clear just what a calm place the world has become during his tenure. But this summer\u00a0Obama\u2019s tranquil world\u00a0[1]\u00a0has descended into medieval barbarism in a way\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mainstream Media&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mainstream Media","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/american-culture\/mainstream-media\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/obama_skydiver_9-26-10-big.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5553,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/no-resolution-at-all-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12910,"position":5},"title":"No Resolution At All","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Why the U.N. can't solve the problem of Hezbollah by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The U.N. resolution that supposedly will solve the problem of Hezbollah is a perfect example of the delusions inhibiting the West in its fight against jihadist terror. According to the resolution, the current impotent U.N.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bruce S. Thornton&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12910"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12913,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12910\/revisions\/12913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}