What does «Armas de destrucción masiva» mean in Spanish?
- Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), in principle, are weapons of great danger and small size relative to their potential damage. The term is somewhat misleading, and the British term weapons of mass effect (WMD) implicitly clarifies that such an effect can destroy everything in its area of effect, as is the case with a nuclear weapon, but other types of weapons several categories of such weapons, such as chemical, biological, and radiological weapons, kill living things but do not destroy inanimate objects. These four categories, or three if radiological weapons are assumed to be a subset of nuclear weapons, constitute the most common usage of the term. Some politicians and media commentators misuse the term for any use of weapons with large-scale effects, such as the explosives in the Oklahoma City bombing or the 9/11 attack. Although these were horrific events, conventional large explosives or unusual mechanisms such as the crashing of airplanes do not fall within the classic definition. See counterproliferation for treaties and other programs to decrease the availability of weapons of mass destruction, and arms control for efforts on their reduction and limitation.