One of my favorite authors has written this fantastic piece about what qualifies an object as a Weapon of Mass Destruction and their potential for future use. An excerpt:

What Is a “Weapon of Mass Destruction”?

Traditionally, we use the term to refer to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

But why is this the list? It isn’t really about the number of people you can kill with each weapon.

After all, if you send up some bombers you can kill a lot more people than if you use poison gas.

And if it’s sheer awfulness that puts a weapon on that list, I think napalm and flame throwers are every bit as appalling.

War kills people and maims many a survivor for life. War kills civilians from time to time, and nations that think of themselves as decent have targeted civilians deliberately and called it a just war.

And, just to put things in perspective, four jet airplanes were turned into weapons that killed thousands of people and made a highly symbolic statement on 9/11 four years ago, while just last month a few bombs on subway trains and buses managed to kill a few people and tie up traffic in London for a day.

It is a lengthy, thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable read.