Thats the BIG question isn't it. But then the first question that needs to be answered is do they have one to begin with? That is problematical, although there has been an abundance of rumors that the KGB, Russian Mafia or Chechen rebels (take your pick of the source) have stolen them and sold them to AQ. This is an old story with no hard facts other than rumors. The second question is why haven't AQ used them against Israel or the Saudi monarchy? Both of these targets were higher in their priority prior to 9/11. Finally, if they have one, it probably wouldn't be too hard to smuggle it in some how. However, what are they waiting for? Our internal security is plenty porous enough to allow a cargo truck with a 10kt device to go just about any where in the country unrestricted.
Signing off for the evening....Safe Safe everyone.
See ya tomorrow.....
To my mind, there is no difference between the question are "they" here (individuals part of or sympathetic to al Qaeda) and are "they" here (nuclear devices - - working or not).
Ever since 9/11 we have combed the country looking for individuals, yet rumors keep arising that some made it in or sleepers may still be buried here. Same question - - if they are here, why haven't they acted? Any one of us could go down to the corner supermarket (or the corner mosque) and take several innocent lives if our minds were twisted enough. Yet that has not happened. So either they are not here, or they are, and have either been prevented from acting or have chosen not to act, or both.
The same applies to any weapons they may possess.
You can kill large numbers of people any time. You can (theoretically) throw the most powerful country on the planet into total chaos only during very limited time frames.
Just as the law of averages demands that there will be an eventual success on their part (broken clock analogy) with repeated attack attempts, with repeated nuclear acquisition attempts over the past decade, there will be eventual success. You will not know with metaphysical certitude that this is the case unless you seize one or you see one go off. As Dr. Rice says, the smoking gun would be a mushroom cloud.
If we assume that "they" (people) are here, then you must assume that "they" (their weapons) are here too.
We should have been far more proactive in preparing civil defense procedures than we have, though we made up for lost time after 9/11. This has been coming our way for many years in every sense of that phrase. We are overdue. The world will never be the same once it happens - - for us or for them.
I do believe that they have the nuclear weapons here, ready to be triggered. Maybe we have found some; perhaps not. I do believe they want the nukes to go off simultaneously, and that would involve major coordination.
As for Saudi Arabia, I believe they (AQ) want to oust the current corrupt leaders and take control of that country and its oil- they would not be motivated, IMO, to nuke SA. As for Israel...well...Israel has some awesome nukes of its own. I believe that they (AQ) would wait for Iran to attack Israel.Just another paranoid thought.