Wait Til Your Boat Goes Down

I'm sorry, but this sounds nutty...

As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways.

According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success."

While the United States has so far been spared this type of strike in its own waters, terrorists have used small boats to attack in other countries.

Now, while that may be true, where's the evidence that they're going to have the means to accomplish this? Correct me if I'm wrong and I know you will, but can two dudes cross the ocean in a skiff? I would think you'd want to watch the ocean-traversing freighters and have in place a strong program of coastal patrolling and use radiological detecting devices all up and down our coasts.

But to think that Joe Blow in his boat, along with his idiot brother-in-law Bob and his buddy Skeeter from work--who are usually four sheets to the wind and barely able to handle creating a wake in the wrong area--are the first line of defense against anything other than a shortage of empty beer cans in the water is pushing it.