scant meaning odd/incidental/chance

[Richard A. Spears]

A quote appeared on the Reuters wire this morning,
under the headline
_U.S. May Debut Secret Microwave Weapon Versus Iraq_
that includes a strange looking use of scant.

"The virtue of high-power microwave weapons is that
they can shut down virtually any military electronics
system while producing no causalities and minimal
physical damage," said military analyst Loren Thompson
of the Lexington Institute think tank. "There's always
the possibility that you'll get the scant general with
a pacemaker."

Has anyone recorded this use of scant?
[I suspect that the speaker was grasping for words or
had intended to put _scant_
before _possibility_.]

Oh, yes, and there is the headline use of _versus_  in
preference to _against_.

R. Spears