[Southack]

"Given 110 pounds of HEU, I'd bet on western-trained engineers working for AQ to be able to at least duplicate a Hiroshima-type gun barrel device. It ain't rocket science."

I was trying to make the point that it wasn't *trivial*, not that it was impossible.

Yes, if you've got Western-trained atomic scientists, fully equipped metallurgy labs, and HEU running out the wazoo, along with large amounts of time and money, then yes, it can be done.

But the NAZI's didn't manage to do it, and they were far more motivated to come up with a device that could stop their losing war than are the terrorists of today who only want to make an ego splash.

[Prime Choice]

But the NAZI's didn't manage to do it, and they were far more motivated

The Nazis failed because their core research was a vain attempt to prove that a Jew (Einstein) couldn't possibly be right. Bottom line: it was Einstein's way or the highway. The Nazi ideology took the highway.

[aristeides]

But the NAZI's didn't manage to do it, and they were far more motivated to come up with a device that could stop their losing war than are the terrorists of today who only want to make an ego splash.

Much easier to do something once you know somebody else has already done it. That tells you it's possible.