But your average Saddam Hussein doesn't care about the same standards. All he wants is a terror weapon to throw destruction at a target. Even the threat of its use might deter American action against him. It's no accident, the report says, that a Chinese general remarked amid the 1996 Taiwan crisis that the Americans probably didn't want to trade Los Angeles for Taipei. Emerging missile powers also have the benefit of technology that is quickly and easily spread.
Russian technicians are for sale.
China has sold complete missile systems to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. And once a missile is built, U.S. enemies have new ways to deliver it. Americans tend to think we're only threatened by an ICBM launched from someone's homeland. But even an enemy without that capability could hide shorter-range missiles on a commercial ship, sail it to U.S. waters, and start the first bombardment of American shores since Fort Sumter. The report is all the more striking because it is the unanimous view of a politically diverse commission.