1)Why would Pakistani Officials now risk all war especially the military with their former allies after all this time, unless there was a major risk involved to Pakistan's survival?
2)Why would the Times of India report such a story? What does India have to gain as it is a nuclear power itself and has no love for the Taliban?
3)Why would officials in the Obama White House all of a sudden use FoxNews to report on a plan to have Special Forces secure Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal, when the main stream press hangs on Obama's every word and these same officials have nothing but apathy for FoxNews.
4)Notice how Obama has taken steps with his allies in Congress to slow down the closing of Gitmo as late and Eric Holder has stated the Former Bush position that terrorist suspect have no POW Rights.
5)Lastly, I believe that the reason why Obama is allowing the military commission that he once preached against now stand(in the last two weeks)is because could one curtain the public outrage and outcry from the American Public if it became public that Bin Laden, Al-Qeade or the Taliban now had nuclear weapons, military commission are and can be closed to public and all officers and enlisted can be forced to take an oath of silence by the President.
They’d probably give it Iran...the best choice of an Islamic country with nuke know how. IMO.
All I know is radicals getting their hands on even one nuke is pretty much the sum of all fears.
One can only hope they detonate it on themselves in some cave while trying to figure out how to work the thing.
Nukes aren’t something to keep around forever like a sealed can of .223 ammo. Truly, nukes need a clean lab, experienced technicians, and very special handling/maintenance.
Pakis are pretty clever people, but even there the population capable of maintaining nukes out in the field is miniscule...and the costs are very high.
Plus, detonating just one nuke will open most of SE Asia and the Middle East to a widespread nuclear retaliation.
Moreover, Pakistan fears India. India could take a nuke detonation and not even miss 5 million people out of its 1.1 Billion. India would then roll over Pakistan and the genocide/ethnic cleansing would be unparalleled.
In fact, Pakistan losing control of its nukes would likely cause an invasion from India that would conquer Pakistan and end the anarchy of the tribal border lands.
Faced with nuclear armed India as its neighbor, Pakistanis who hate Israel and the U.S. have a very different reality with which to contend.
So for practical, technical, tactical, and strategic reasons, Al qaeda is unlikely to detonate a nuke. Such a detonation would almost have to be state-sanctioned by Pakistan, North Korea, Russia, Iran, or China...none of which have the missile defenses required to stop the inevitable retaliation.