Author: Al-Qaida Has Nuclear Weapons, Likely Inside U.S.

NewsMax ^ | 7/14/04 | Stewart Stogel

[antivenom]

Well might be that "they" want to set up a "nuclear pecking order"...have too many nukes in too many countries...once the first goes off others will too...and the pecking order will spread like a cancer...

[NJ_gent]

"Talk was guarded, roadblocks were numerous and all citizens were subject to questioning and search if deemed necessary."

That's not the America I grew up in, not the one I want my kids to grow up in, and is, in my opinion, completely and totally unnecessary to secure this nation. Secure the borders and coastline, replace the INS with a functional organization, and fix our foreign intelligence services - we'll be as safe as we can be, and we'll be a hell of a lot more free. It's the individual liberties that have made this country so prosperous and powerful. When you look at a nation which behaves opposite to how we behave, such as North Korea, you see nothing but death and despair among the population. Freedom equals prosperity.

[Eastbound]

"Too soon I would think."

Yup. Very bad timing. But no time would be a good time. And it is more than just an economic block, it's part of a global zones and regions agenda, with plans to eliminate the Sovereignty of nations. Not only bad timing, but a bad reason.

[1_Inch_Group]

No arguement about him being an idiot. Anyone who believes the story about the virgins awaiting him in heaven for blowing people up, well...isn't all there. Must be something to do with the heat over there...seems like all their brains are baked.

Not neccesarily a "dry run", but a mission to show off the achievement of the shoe bomb itself (which like you stated, would not have been found out about for a long time, if at all, if they were detonated), get people scared to travel again...etc. Their mission is terror. They don't have to kill people to successfully engage their targets.

They know we won't execute them for their crimes, so they plan a little harder, and end up with more sympathisers among the angry minority population in US prisons, when their comrade gets busted and jailed.

I'm just sayin...another possibility. It makes more sense if you think about it.

[Eighth Square]

Agreed, but as Joe Blow citizens, we probably won't be able to stop it. Change is ongoing and constant, that's a given, but in this country, in some areas, we seem to be accelerating the rate of that change without thinking it through. I fear, that like a hastily built house, it will inevitably lead to our collapse.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Exactly. The only way to counter this is with the threat of 10,000 times as much damage beginning with Mecca.

[El Gato]

I am a lot more afraid of ballpoint pen nukes than I am of suitcase nukes.

Not that either one actually exists

I don't know about "suitcase" nukes, but man portable nukes most certainly exist. They are (or were) called Atomic Demolition Munitions. The medium ones are a mite heavy for a single person, but still small enough to fit in a trunk of a compact car, let alone even a small SUV.

[Eastbound]

"I fear, that like a hastily built house, it will inevitably lead to our collapse."

Well, a lot of folks don't maintain their houses and a strong wind blows the roof off and the walls collapse.

Should that be the case here, it will be an opportunity to build a stronger, impregnable house. Do we have the will to do that? We'll find out if it happens. If we don't re-build, we'll deserve the 'tent city' they plan for us.

[fella]

Lets see suitcase nukes were supposedly lost by the Russians when the USSR collapsed.

Now then some questions come to mind, such as. What kind of maintenance is required to keep these things operational? What is the half-life of the materials used in these devices?(The older the material the less reliable the devices operation is) How are the circuits and detonators affected by the constant radiation bombaredment they are exposed to because of the low level of shielding these devices have in order to make them portable?

[El Gato]

Certainly we have satalite technology that never stops scanning the US looking for radiological hot spots. Would I be wrong in guessing that weapon grade uranium in a bomb would have a rather unique radiation signature?

Sure, but hardly something detectable from orbit, or even from an aircraft, unless it was awfully low. Satellites are used to detect explosions, not individual devices, (of course they also take pictures and listen to radio chatter)

[philman_36]

Poking the sleeping giant America into swatting at cells of Muslim terrorists here and there was a first step...
Some of that swatting seems to have been effective, according to some reports. Whether it has been productive is another thing altogether. They could've been low priority decoy groups designed for the specific purpose of getting caught to lull us into complacency.
...allowing the terrorists to carry the corpses of muslim children supposedly "murdered" by the U.S. in the streets as recruiting posters on al jazeera.
The live muslims as well as those dead muslim children have a few of their own extremists to thank for their demise.
But, again, we have been unwilling to unleash the full force of our might, and we, as a country, have become more divided rather than more unified.
Do you mean politically or otherwise? I would agree on the politically divided, but I'd go with a 75-25 split on the WOT. Most seem to want payback. Another attack will only escalalte that desire and the extremists and liberals just don't realize it yet.
As you stated, and as they haven't realized yet...they've only poked this giant and we have been unwilling to unleash the full force of our might.
If they're foolish enough to attack us again on a large scale then, as Mr. T used to say...I pity the fool!
These are all just random thoughts...
As with you, just some random thoughts.

[El Gato]

The entire Islamic world is all over the world. Are you shooting for a nuclear winter?

Use small nukes, airbursts mostly. Nuclear winter will not be a problem. NW scenarios require ground bursts to throw up lots of dust, and/or long lasting fires to put up lots of smoke. Stay away from the oil (or use enhanced radiation devices in those areas) and there isn't that much to burn in much of the Islamic world, especially the more troublesome parts from Gibraltar to the Indian subcontinent. Stone or concrete buildings and mud huts don't burn much, and they have no forests, nor even major grass or croplands, near the targets of interest.

[steve-b]

Where's that "NOT THIS $#!^% AGAIN" graphic?

[steve-b]

Logic would dictate that you use 'em before you lose 'em.

Especially since a "suitcase nuke" won't work if it doesn't get some rather sophisticated maintenance (replace the tritium, check the high-precision mechanical alignments, test/recalibrate the timing electronics) fairly often (on the order of a few months -- for one thing, tritium has a 12-year half-life, and its He3 decay product is a strong neutron absorber and tends to diffuse into everything).

[jetson]

the perfect weapon for terrorists'.

[steve-b]

stealing one or paying for one is a good substitute

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Russian Mafia has sold these jokers a few boxes of old pinball parts.

[aruanan]

The entire Islamic world is all over the world. Are you shooting for a nuclear winter?

Nuclear winter was a hoax from the very beginning.

[Thrusher]

***Do you mean politically or otherwise? I would agree on the politically divided, but I'd go with a 75-25 split on the WOT. Most seem to want payback. Another attack will only escalalte that desire and the extremists and liberals just don't realize it yet.***
Politically yes, but more and more people are backing off the war. Less seem to realize that fighting the terrorists in Baghdad is muhc better than fighting them in Brooklyn.
***The live muslims as well as those dead muslim children have a few of their own extremists to thank for their demise.***
Absolutely.

[HRoarke]

Only if Dr. Emmitt Brown was working for the Russkies...

[Valin]

So how many million men women children do you figure we'd have to kill?