Posted on 07/11/2004 2:16:41 AM PDT by beyond the sea
A number of high level nuclear experts who know something about suitcase nuclear technology have indicated that any such devices are no longer operational. These devices require constant maintenance (the radiation from the payload disintegrates the control circuitry). Also, these devices are very noisy radioactive sources that can be readily detected by nuclear sensors.
Last point, Al Quada is mostly a bunch of savages with little technical knowledge. They are also opportunistic. If they had a chance at this level of attack, it would have been done long back, while they still had the chance.
The whole story line makes for a good book, but I won't be reading it.
A list was read by the Vice President the other day of countries that Al Qaeda has hit. It was a very LONG list.
Considering their considerably lower population, on a pro rata basis, their suffering has been great because of terrorist attacks as well.
One doesn't try to appease or "lessen the hate" with an enemy that literally hates anyone who is different from them.
Al Qaeda hates indiscriminately and although we may be the biggest target, that is merely because it feeds their ego that they can try to bring down the biggest, strongest country in the world.
That's true, but that's not the subject of this article.
In the book "Demian" by Hermann Hesse there was an interpretation of the Bible story of Cain and Abel put forth by one of the characters. The arguement was made in the book that Cain was "marked" not because he was evil or bad, but because he was superior and thusly feared by the weaker folks who were jealous of his power.
This is what is happening to America now, in my opinion. We are disdained because of our strength. You are so right.
But, what can be done to stop this. How can we stop from being "marked" (or destroyed) as Cain was? We better hurry up and figure this out!
Right. Despicable.
In addition, bin Laden has recruited former Soviet scientists and technicians to maintain these weapons and recharge their nuclear cores so that they may be deployed immediately on his command.
Hey, I prefer to think that this is all garbage, but something smells.
From a Warren Zevon bulletin board?
It's simple. All we have to do is hand over all our arms to the jihadists, get on our knees and bear our throats for them to cut.
I guess we all pack up and go to Mars. There's no way to make the rest of the world love us. They have a terminal case of envy and haven't figured out that if America were destroyed, the world economy would go belly up. This might not have time to dawn on them, though, as bin Laden and his flunkies have assuredly been hiding suitcase nukes all over western Europe, too. They mean to take over the world. America is just the first bite of the apple.
And they FEEL inferior because they ARE inferior.
While it is possible, it is unlikely that they go to Sears&Roebuck and buy new initiators and explosive lenses. The greater number of some of these devices smuggled, the greater the probability of them being detected. For example, some years ago, a junked piece of radiotherapy equipment found its way to a scrap dealer in Mexico. Rolling around the back of a truck, with the scrap iron were pellets of cobat60. The iron was melted and cast into decorative table legs of the type used in outdoor restaurants. A shipment of these tables was on an 18-wheeler that had to make a delivery to TMA Eberline, and when it pulled up it set off every detector in the place. None of the material ever found its way to the public...and this is just one example that an insignificant worker-ant like me is aware of.
In addition, enough material to form a critical mass in not just radioactively "hot", it is thermally hot, and sufficiently so that the charges deteriorate from the heat, and from neutron and gamma bombardment, in particular the explosives and binders used.
But a "dud" would make a serious dirty bomb, plutonium being one of the worst carcinogens known.
What would such an attack accomplish except to remind us that we have twice as many nuclear warheads and the people who were killed on 9-11, and provide us a perfect license to use them?
The other consequence, knowing the American temper when finally, finally provoked would be the festive decoration provided by Muslims dangling from every lamp post.
Well, it that's what it takes.....
Don't underestimate their patience.They spent years planning 9/11.
Is there anyone here who doesn't believe Osama would have used these bombs-if he had them- LONG AGO ??
The Chechens made similar empty claims,and,every so often a journalist says " Whoa ! 10-20-30-40 (pick your number) missing SUITCASE NUKES !!"
MOST LIKELY SCENARIO: The nukes did and do exist.(We have some of our own,by the way.)They are in Russia,and are closely guarded by the successor agencies to GRU,KGB,etc.
It's one thing to leave some grossly outdated nukes and non-functional rockets lightly guarded;quite another to take chances with state-of-the-art gear !
Wrong. The liberals are not the ones with the guns.
AV
Without maintenance, these bombs are still a problem, but they will more go "sputter, flame" than boom. They'll thoroughly contaminate a small area (depending upon how they are placed), but they're more valuable for the nuclear materials than their structure as a bomb.
I once bought a vrey profitable toll bridge from the Russian Mafia.
And this conclusion is based on..............?
"Makes sense to me! But how do we explain the apparent growing dislike for America in other parts of the world. It's not as if these terrorists are acting in a vacuum. As the days go by in fact, we are learning more and more about French involvement in activities that have killed our soldiers and hurt the effort in Iraq"
You have to remember that for the french, it WAS about the oil (and also making money by selling them banned weapons)
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