U.S. officials fear nuclear attack by al-Qaida. Search for bin Laden takes on new urgency.

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | March 14, 2003 | Knight-Ridder News Service

[FairOpinion]

WASHINGTON -- The manhunt for Osama bin Laden has become more urgent because of growing fears among intelligence officials that he is obsessed with building a nuclear bomb to explode on U.S. soil. Federal intelligence and energy officials worry that bin Laden's terrorists will build an improvised nuclear weapon and smuggle it into the U.S., possibly in a container ship, according to well-placed sources. His goal, they believe, is a nuclear hellstorm like the 1945 Hiroshima blast that killed 140,000 Japanese.

Unlike smaller-scale attacks, which can be planned and authorized by lower-level leaders, the chain of command in al-Qaida's nuke project answers directly to Bin Laden, right-hand man Ayman Al-Zawahiri and an unidentified scientist called "Dr. X," the sources said.

[FairOpinion]

What I hope is that they don't already have one. There have been a lot of rumors about Bin Laden having bought some suitcase nukes, which may even be in the US.

That is possible, and if it were true, I am sure they wouldn't want to panic the population with a statement that there are several nukes IN the US, just waiting for Bin Laden's OK to detonate them.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I saw a piece on Discovery Cannel or TLC a couple of weeks ago that claimed the U.S. had found out that al Queda had managed to acquire a quantity of enriched uranium or plutonium and that a SEAL operation aboard the merchant ship had been successful in sinking the ship, the Anwar II. It was supposed to have been some time last year.

Anyone else see it?

[zippoman]

Remember Osama's recent tape where he said he was going to do himself in with a person attack into the belly of the US. Maybe this is what he had in mind?

[The Great Satan]

LOL! The BS gets thicker.

[kjam22]

Yep.... personally I don't think there are nukes in this country because they haven't gone off. I don't see these guys sitting on them for any lenght of time.

[rs79bm]

THis is nothing new.

[robertpaulsen]

Dr. X? What is this, a James Bond movie?

[Hatteras]

""The greatest danger we face is a nuclear bomb being smuggled into this country," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "The amazing thing is how little we're doing about it."

What an @$$...

[PureSolace]

Oooo, now there's a mysterious Dr. X! The movie of life keeps getting better and better. I'm on the edge of my seat I can barely contain myself! *GAG* :)

[ez]

He said he would "die in the belly of the Eagle..."

That could mean in captivity.

[doc30]

I saw that show. It was supposedly a dramatization to show how special forces operate outside the U.S. The story line was fictional, but illustrates how the U.S. intelligence agencies and special forces teams operate and what they can do.

[Orangedog]

Any speculation here on what the possible target would be? My guess would be whatever the target of the 4th plane was on 9/11, or the Pentagon. Al Qaeda is well known for their going back to targets that they tried to attack earlier but failed to destroy, ala WTC attack in 1993. I would say that they are done with NYC for now and would concentrate on what they didn't achieve in Washington DC.

[epluribus_2]

feeding him to bald eagles piece by piece has a nice image to it...

[ConservativeConvert]

We should find out soon enough the extent of Al Qaida's capabilities. If the war in Iraq starts and we see nothing by way of domestic terrorism shortly afterward then I think we can safely assume that their organization is, as has been widely reported, crippled and in shambles.

[Orangedog]

Don't underestimate the lengths these head-cases will go to, or how patient they can be. 9/11 could have been pulled off with only 2 planes a lot sooner than it did hsppen, but they waited until they had attacks set up for several cities. There is a good chance that Chicago and San Francisco were on the slate for 9/11 as well DC and NYC. There IS a method to their madness.

[FairOpinion]

Interesting. I heard "rumors", but then I heard that they were "just" rumor, not true.

But if it was on Discovery channel, maybe it was true, afterall.

[FairOpinion]

The general info has been around for some time.

But perhaps what's new is that

a) intel services must have more confirmation and that's why they are taking it more seriously

b) things are ready to go off, just waiting for the signal from Osama and intel services want to make sure the signal doesn't come

Why is it suddenly so urgent to get Bin Laden? There must be a reason. Perhaps they got more info out of the Mohammed guy.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I must not have caught the part about the story line being fictional. I found it VERY odd that something as sensitive as sinking a ship under the flag of a foreign country by sabotage would be admitted in public.

[FairOpinion]

Excellent point. I agree. We will know soon one way or another.

[sd-joe]

Remember Osama's recent tape where he said he was going to do himself in with a person attack into the belly of the US. Maybe this is what he had in mind?

Yeah, that's it. Osama is going to stick a nuke up his butt, get captured, get brought to the US, and explode it in the belly of the beast. /sarcasm