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From: piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: BIG guns
Message-ID: <1197@pur-phy.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-Feb-84 04:25:40 EST
Article-I.D.: pur-phy.1197
Posted: Fri Feb 10 04:25:40 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Feb-84 06:42:18 EST
Organization: Purdue University Physics Dept.
Lines: 25


  Again this evening the news from Lebanon is not good. The Navy has
fired 16 inch guns at artillery positions in the mountains above Beirut.
This is an act of terrorism. The 16 inch guns on the USS New Jersey
were designed to support naval invasions. They are intented for use
against heavely fortified positions. The idea is to destroy or disable
shore defenses before a landing. These big guns are not very accurate.
They are very big. A single shell from a 16 inch gun can level a city
block. To get some idea of the size of one of these shells, look at your
arm. The distance from your finger tips to the inside of your elbow is
about 16 inches. That is the diameter of the shells. They carry around
1000 pounds of explosive. That is a half ton. That is bigger than the
average car bomb.
  Unfortunately there is more than just artillery in the mountains.
There are civilians, towns and villages there as well. Use of the
16 inch guns guarantees that some of these people will be killed.
Indeed, early reports indicate that is exactly what has happened.
Reagan deplores terrorism publicly, but turns right around and
engages in it in Lebanon in support of a government which is all
but finished anyway. I for one can not tolerate a hypocrite as
president of this country. This is an election year, vote early,
vote often!

					Rich Piner
					Purdue Physics Dept.