The whore of Babylon and the horseman of plague
Recent experience with Iraq suggests that preventing the proliferation of biological weapons will be difficult but not impossible
AN UNUSUAL map of the world hangs on the office wall of UNSCOM—the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq, which has the task of disarming that country. Iraq is at the centre, and concentric circles ripple outward from it. These circles are the ranges of various missiles that Iraq had plans to develop. The widest circle clips Paris to the north-west, and China to the north-east.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “The whore of Babylon and the horseman of plague”
From the April 12th 1997 edition
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