Posted on 10/29/2003 9:48:28 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Adnan El Shukrijumah is a suspected al-Qaeda organizer who is the subject of a worldwide manhunt by the FBI and CIA. He is believed to be working on Osama bin Laden's plan to trigger a radiological disaster inside the United States - the so-called "dirty-bomb" scenario where a small charge would trigger dispersion of radiation over a large area, wreaking havoc on those caught in the blast and making the blast area uninhabitable. High-grade uranium is not necessary for this project; ordinary, low-grade nuclear waste will be deadly enough.
El Shukrijumah has eluded capture. But Insight in field interviews has obtained evidence that he was spotted several times last year on the campus of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Now, subsequent to Insight's field investigation, news reports are saying that "an FBI source" has confirmed El Shukrijumah's presence. McMaster University is the site of a 5,000-watt research reactor, as well as the university hospital that routinely generates nuclear waste. It is alleged that some of that waste has gone missing, but McMaster has refused to confirm or deny that report to this magazine. Insight already had interviewed a confidential informant who tipped off the FBI about El Shukrijuma. The confidential informant tells Insight that El Shukrijumah "said he was a student" and had met with him "five or six times" in 2002, the last time in November. Months later, in March 2003, the confidential informant recognized El Shukrijumah's photograph on television and says, "I got sick to my stomach."
According to the confidential informant, El Shukrijumah was "always alone," he "didn't talk much," but "said he was from the Middle East." The FBI lists El Shukrijumah's place of birth as Saudi Arabia, though the Saudi government denies that he is a citizen. On Sept. 5, the Saudi Embassy issued a statement that read, in part, "The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia again feels the need to correct the issue regarding the nationality of Mr. Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, wanted in connection with possible threats against the United States. ... Shukrijumah is not, and never has been, a Saudi citizen, as had been widely reported." The statement declared that the suspect's father, "Gulshai El Shukrijumah, worked in Saudi Arabia for 27 years as an expatriate employee until 1986. ... The father did not have Saudi citizenship."
The FBI alerts state that "El Shukrijumah speaks English and carries a Guyanese passport, but may attempt to enter the U.S. with a Saudi, Canadian or Trinidadian passport." The Saudi Embassy statement repeats for emphasis that El Shukrijumah is "not a Saudi citizen and if he is traveling using a Saudi passport, then he has obtained it and is using it illegally."
A well-placed source with ties to McMaster University tells Insight that in early May he was made aware of a concern on campus about "missing nuclear material" amounting to "82 or 86 kilos [180 or 189 pounds]." McMaster officials have been adroit in responding to Insight's inquiries about El Shukrijumah, saying they are not aware of a student by that name attending the university but declined to provide similar information about the suspect's aliases. The FBI alert lists El Shukrijumah's aliases as Abu Arif, Ja'far Al-Tayar, Jaffar Al-Tayyar, Jafar Tayar and Jaafar Al-Tayyar.
Jayne Johnston, a university spokeswoman, admits that "these are very serious allegations," involving as they do the possibility of missing nuclear material. She says "the media focus comes back to us to ask what truth is there to these allegations. Well none that we are aware of. ... We don't have that information to provide." While addressing concerns about the nuclear reactor, she sidestepped the issue of security over and losses of radioactive material on campus.
This presents U.S. and Canadian security with a nuclear scare of the most likely sort. The raw byproduct of a nuclear reactor or the waste from nuclear medicine is not sufficiently concentrated to create a nuclear chain reaction for an atomic explosion, but radiological waste is a threat as part of what commonly is called a "dirty bomb." A report on terrorism issued by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) describes a dirty bomb as "a radiological weapon" created from "a conventional explosive such as dynamite packaged with radioactive material that scatters when the bomb goes off." The explosion, according to the report, "kills or injures through the initial blast of the conventional explosive and by airborne radiation and contamination, hence the term 'dirty.'"
Peter M. Leitner, president of the Higgins Counter-Terrorism Research Foundation, tells Insight that the threat of a dirty bomb is "enormous." And, he says, "The materials are not hard to get - it is available at hospitals, X-ray clinics and industrial sites." As a terror weapon designed both to kill and to create panic it is very nasty indeed [see "Searching for 'Dirty Bombs,'" Jan. 21-Feb. 3].
This leads back to McMaster University, which now has denied to Canada's National Post that there is any nuclear material missing from its reactor. The newspaper quotes Dave Tucker, a physicist "who manages radiation safety for the university," as saying there is no indication that any nuclear material is unaccounted for. According to Tucker, "There is a very small number of people who have access to our nuclear facilities and we know who they are and we know that [El Shukrijumah] isn't one of them. There are few enough that we know personally the people who have unescorted access to the reactor."
It is important to note the distinction being made between missing radioactive material and material missing from the university's nuclear reactor. There also is radioactive waste on the campus in areas other than the reactor, such as the School of Nuclear Medicine. However, university officials and local police respond to questions about the potential loss of medical radiological waste with answers about the security of the reactor - a separate matter.
An official of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission told Insight that he didn't think there were "any reports of any significant material" missing from the McMaster School of Nuclear Medicine, but did not want to go on the record because he could not entirely rule out the possibility.
According to Leitner, access to the reactor is not necessary to obtain components for a dirty bomb. "They can have a full accounting of the material used to fire the reactor," he says, "but that wouldn't include items that are irradiated." This could include radiated material used in hospitals such as the McMaster University School of Medicine. Officials for the university, however, dodged Insight's questions about missing radiated medical waste.
The CFR report states that such radioactive substances are not always well-guarded. The report says, "The [International Atomic Energy Agency] notes that virtually every country has radioactive substances that could be used to make dirty bombs." It cites a U.N. report stating that "Iraq tested a one-ton radiological bomb in 1987 but gave up on the idea because the radiation levels it generated were not deadly enough."
But U.S. authorities analyzing this information may find a terrorist-threat trifecta in El Shukrijumah, says a terror specialist. In addition to the sighting of the suspect in Hamilton and the hint of missing nuclear material from McMaster, El Shukrijumah was being sought for questioning because his name came up in documents belonging to senior al-Qaeda figure Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the principal terrorist deputy to Osama bin Laden. Mohammed was apprehended in Pakistan last spring and is believed personally to have cut the throat of captive Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in February 2002. A Cable News Network report last March stated that "Mohammed identified El Shukrijumah as one of his deputies, according to sources." That same report said federal authorities had linked El Shukrijumah to José Padilla, an American converted to Islam who was arrested last May and is suspected of being involved in an al-Qaeda plot to explode a radioactive bomb inside the United States.
As Time magazine reported in July, "The FBI believes that al-Qaeda recruiters are aggressively enrolling youths ... with U.S., Canadian or Western European passports and good command of the English language and the North American interior." Time quotes outgoing counterterrorism chief Larry Mefford as saying that al-Qaeda is "refocusing its efforts" to recruit "disaffected Americans, green-card holders and Muslims who had spent time in the U.S. as students or visitors" with good English skills and a "working knowledge of American society and culture." Both El Shukrijumah and Padilla fit that profile, say Insight sources. Federal authorities believe the two first met while residing in Pembroke, Fla.
I did not hear anyone say lets bomb the vatican when Tim Mcveigh killed all those people in the federal building.
When Hitler and his Nazi killed millons, nobody talked about blowing up the pope or the queen of England, as head of their respective churches.
When the slaugher was going on in Yugoslavia, nobody wanted to blow up the vatican.
When the child molester priests for the last god only knows how many years have benn molesting children in their care, nobody calls for the end to the church, they do not even call for an excomunication from the church, which is the least they could do.
I did not hear anyone say let ban christian cults when Koresh and his people died down there.
or when Jim Jones killed 638 adults and 276 children. Nobody shouted bomb the vatican, cancel religious TV from the air. ban all cults. HEll NO
But when some News reporter wants to make a name for him/herself they can get instant headlines around the world and everyone want to blow up Mekkah.
There are 1.5 billion muslims, who worship only one God, the same as the christian god, the same as the jewish, god, and they are not all terorists.
If a few of them, compared to the 1.5 billion, calling it a few is still going a little far, want to be terrorists and kill innocents, then they will pay an awful price here and the next life.
Each and everyone one of us will be standing there in our birthday suits and will be judged on all our actions.
Figure 1. Long-term Contamination Due to Cesium Bomb in Washington, DC.
Inner Ring: One cancer death per 100 people due to remaining radiation (5% increase)
Middle Ring: One cancer death per 1,000 people due to remaining radiation (.5% increase)
Outer Ring: One cancer death per 10,000 people due to remaining radiation (.05% increase): EPA recommends decontamination or destruction
Figure 2. Example 2:
Cobalt (Gamma Emitter)
Now imagine if a single piece of radioactive cobalt from a food irradiation plant were dispersed by an explosion at the lower tip of Manhattan. Typically, each of these cobalt "pencils" is about one inch in diameter and one foot long, with hundreds of such pieces often being found in the same facility. Admittedly, acquisition of such material is less likely than in the previous scenario, but we still consider the results, depicted in Figure 2. Again, no immediate evacuation would be necessary, but in this case, an area of approximately one-thousand square kilometers, extending over three states, would be contaminated. Over an area of about three hundred typical city blocks, there would be a one-in-ten risk of death from cancer for residents living in the contaminated area for forty years. The entire borough of Manhattan would be so contaminated that anyone living there would have a one-in-a-hundred chance of dying from cancer caused by the residual radiation. It would be decades before the city was inhabitable again, and demolition might be necessary.
For comparison, consider the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, in which a Soviet nuclear power plant went through a meltdown. Radiation was spread over a vast area, and the region surrounding the plant was permanently closed. In our current example, the area contaminated to the same level of radiation as that region would cover much of Manhattan, as shown in Figure 3. Furthermore, near Chernobyl, a larger area has been subject to periodic controls on human use such as restrictions on food, clothing, and time spent outdoors. In the current example, the equivalent area extends fifteen miles.
Long-term Contamination Due to Cobalt Bomb in NYC - EPA Standards.
Inner Ring: One cancer death per 100 people due to remaining radiation (5% increase)
Middle Ring: One cancer death per 1,000 people due to remaining radiation (.5% increase)
Outer Ring: One cancer death per 10,000 people due to remaining radiation (.05% increase): EPA recommends decontamination or destruction
Figure 3. Contamination Due to Cobalt Bomb in NYC - Chernobyl Comparison.
Inner Ring: Same radiation level as permanently closed zone around Chernobyl
Middle Ring: Same radiation level as permanently controlled zone around Chernobyl
Outer Ring: Same radiation level as periodically controlled zone around Chernobyl
It is well understood that one of the terrorists stated missions is "destruction of Israel". Another of their stated missions is for all to be converted to Islam (all else must perish). They don't want to live side by side with Christians, Jews, Buddists, and other religions. Since the United States is the ultimate symbol of religious freedom, we are the target.
Some of your comparisons are more military than religious based. The others were more local in nature and did not place in peril (at least directly) the freedoms we enjoy.
Finally, my post did not explicity say "nuke Mecca". It was meant that the implicit "threat" to their so-called "holy city" would sent the terrorists into fear mode; much the same way the U.S.S. Hornet sent an "implied threat" against the Japanese Emperor on April 16, 1942. While not considered to have a major military impact at the time, it coerced the Japanese into making the greatest military mistake of their history (closing the Midway "keyhole").
Not talking of low-grade Uranium, but of low-grade nuclear waste, which is amalgam of toxic substances. Low concentration of Cesium-137, Iodine-131, Cobalt-60, Strontium-90, etc. will do bad things if placed next to explosive, and that is classic definition of dirty bomb.
I have never heard UBL mention any time that he wanted the distruction of Israel. He said until the people/brothers of Palestine are free.
The items I mentioned were all Christian people, but their religion is never mentioned, but when one criminal professes to belive in Islam, then the whole world knows about it.
When a few people are causing a problem, you cannot hold the threat of Nuking Mekkah, because the sort of people you are dealing with would like nothing more than you to Nuke Mekkah, as then they would have 1.5 billion people on there side.
You have to make it a criminal offence and go after them like criminals, you make it political or religious, then its like you are killing them for thier religious views or political views, which you should not do.
You go after them for the crimes they have commited or for threatening to kill people, this is also a crime.
With regard to wanting to convert everyone to Islam, I do not know if that is their extrem views, I just think they want nothing to do with western culture, or should we say lack of culture the way things have been going in the last few years, where it seems anything goes to please the liberals of this world.
Utter B.S.
There is a difference between an Islamist and a Muslim.
An Islamist wants to kill you.
A Muslim merely wants you dead.
I guess it's the 99% of the violent hateful Muslims that spoil it for the other 1%.
I have never heard UBL mention any time that he wanted the distruction of Israel. He said until the people/brothers of Palestine are free.
He mentioned in one speech the Balfour declaration (which eventually led to the creation of Israel). Unfournately, the terrorist definition of a "freed Palestine" is NO ISRAEL. If the muslims from the beginning tried to negotiate with the Jews instead of "drive them to the sea", the Middle East would not be the powder keg it is today.
The items I mentioned were all Christian people, but their religion is never mentioned, but when one criminal professes to belive in Islam, then the whole world knows about it.
I don't see Christian Taliban murdering their people for not following the religion according to their interpretation. They may have done that in the Middle Ages. Even if there are recent examples, that does not constitute a threat to our freedoms.
When a few people are causing a problem, you cannot hold the threat of Nuking Mekkah, because the sort of people you are dealing with would like nothing more than you to Nuke Mekkah, as then they would have 1.5 billion people on there side.
Here you have a point. The Japanese analogy would still hold if the "rank and file" muslim responds differently from the suicide mentality. Even the Japanese didn't follow their Moshido code to the letter in WWII. Which theory is correct? Let's call that question even.
You have to make it a criminal offence and go after them like criminals, you make it political or religious, then its like you are killing them for thier religious views or political views, which you should not do. You go after them for the crimes they have commited or for threatening to kill people, this is also a crime.
These two comments go together. This is WAR. You could make an argument that war itself is a crime. Here you have a point since throughout history most wars are fought over religious or politicial views. However, on September 11, 2001 happened, they attacked our innocent civilians. At that point, we have no other choice but war.
With regard to wanting to convert everyone to Islam, I do not know if that is their extrem views, I just think they want nothing to do with western culture, or should we say lack of culture the way things have been going in the last few years, where it seems anything goes to please the liberals of this world.
The mainstream doesn't think that way, but the extreme elements do. The extreme elements of Islam hate Christians as much as they hate Jews, but for some reason they see the Jews as a bigger threat. They want nothing to do with western culture because they see how backwards theirs has become.
Egg-zackerly!
WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "AL QAEDA PURSUED A 'DIRTY BOMB'" by Bill Gertz (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Adnan El Shukrijumah is being sought by the FBI and CIA in connection with a plot to detonate a dirty bomb -- a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material.") (October 17, 2003) (Read More...)
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