I am in the process of watching HBO’s special feature “Dirty War” and I must say that this is one of the most scary films I’ve seen. Not in the sense of gruesome gore, but in the sense of “this shit might just happen here in DC.”

This film depicts a dirty bomb (conventional bomb with radiological components) going off in downtown London and its aftermath. Shortly after Bush got re-selected I purchased a gas mask and now I’m somewhat thankful I did, but I still have zero protection against radiological weaponry. The insert in the box that came with the gas mask was for potassium iodide pills, which are supposed to help guard my body against the effects of radiation on my thyroid gland, but what I need and will never obtain, is a lead vest. Nonetheless, if you have a chance, watch this film. And more importantly, think about what kind of plan the United States government (and you!) has to deal with such a catastrophe.

For some reason, I feel that the residents of DC are fucked if such event were to take place. The only safeguards I hope are in place are radiological detectors (aka hi-tech Geiger counters) have been placed around DC to alert the government that there has been a radiological weapon brought into the city. But logistically, I’d also like to think that there have been GIS models constructed that take into account the prevailing winds around DC so if a dirty bomb was to go off in downtown DC there would be a plan of action for those who are in line with the fallout cloud that would eventually cover some part of DC. Regardless, Dirty War has definitely given me a better grasp of the way our government might handle such a situation, and it isn’t pretty.