Any way to get a FEMA doc on their 'guesstimated' priorities?
I'd think the Red Cross list would be worth checking again.
I still think they are going to cluster their nukes for max effect.
And, I'd expect them to try the 4 corners of the USA at some point to impress the country and world that they've devastated us from all sides.
Whoa! And I thought I came up with some pretty dismal scenarios!
All four corners makes sense-- but they only warned their folks to flee LA and the East Coast cities- esp. NYC and DC.
Would they lie to their own faithful?
Yes
You are overestimating the power of a suitcase nuke. They are very small (for nukes). They will knock down everything in about a 3 block radius, with a rapidly diminishing effect the further out you go.
That is still enough to really trash the downtown core of just about any city, but not nearly enough to destroy the entire city. Nor would 20 nukes (or 35) be nearly enough to knock out the U.S. as a whole.
Twenty small nukes is not really a lot. If that is "all" you have, you would need to be creative in how you used them.
Small nukes like this are most useful for blowing up high value point targets. Examples include dams (think down stream flooding, loss of power generation, washed out bridges, etc.), nuclear power plants (think LOTS of fallout), and killing key groups of people (think Congress, the Pentagon, the White House, etc.).
For instance:
A small group of them could take out the financial district of NYC.
Taking out the right dam(s) on the Mississippi/Missouri rivers would cut the country in half, and make New Orleans into a lake.
Taking out the right dam(s) on the Columbia River would flood Portland, and cut off Washington state. (The U.S. would then be cut into 3 parts...).
The St. Lawrence Seaway could be rendered un-navigable, thus cutting off shipping from the Great Lakes.
If the goal is to show "moral superiority" at the same time, take out Las Vegas and/or Hollywood.
The enemy leaders are smart people. Each of the above possibilities has been mentioned as a possible Al Qaida target in previous news reports.
In addition to doing enormous economic damage, the above attacks would sow panic among the people. However, I think the U.S. would survive an attack like this. Islam might not survive the retaliation, however.
Again recognizing that the enemy leaders are smart people, and have thought all this through, what could possibly hit us so hard that our ability to retaliate is crushed?
Hmmm... Anthrax and/or smallpox are the weapons of choice if your purpose is to kill LOTS of people.