Posted on 07/14/2005 12:24:33 PM PDT by Sweetjustusnow
Paul M. Williams author of The Al-Queda Connection which is due to be released soon, provides a compilation of data based on; FBI, CIA, Vice President Cheney, Homeland Security, Attorney General Ashcroft and news sources. Makes a strong case that there are 20 suitcase nukes in the USA which have been smuggled in through the border with Mexico.
I don't give much credence to the claim of all those nukes myself, but the idea that there can't possibly be even one in the country because they would have definitely used it by now strikes me as rather specious logic.
9/11 was a plan literally years in the making, and the 9/11 hijackers were in the country for quite some time plotting, coordinating, and preparing. Furthermore, we know that they have a preference for well-coordinated simultaneous multiple attacks. They bide their time and plan carefully in order to wreak the most havoc possible.
They bother to smuggle them in the US because we are the target of destruction. Put them in other Western countries for black mail.
You are VERY right about that. We are now poised to completely trash the remnant of the liberties the Founders died for in a fit of spastic closing the barn door after the horse is long gone.
Note that we did not have a PATRIOT Act when the Soviets were placing WMDs in the U.S. for sabotage/infiltration attacks. Now, for a bunch of ragheads, we burn our Constitution.
So many holes in your argument, I don't know where to start.
You say it is logical to assume that it is only a matter of time until AQ deploys a nuke inside the US "regardless of how difficult it is to obtain and smuggle...".
Huh? To deploy a nuke in the US, AQ must do alot of things besides overcoming the difficulty of obtaining and smuggling the goods. By the way, would you care to list the things you think they need to build a bomb, and please provide quantities as well. You seem to think anyone who doesn't agree with your premise is ignorant. That would indicate you know how much and what grade of materials they would need to construct such a weapon, as well as what other components would be required.
Simply claiming others are ignorant for refuting such dubious claims as Wilson makes is hardly a sound position. You say that "we know that it can be done". I completely disagree with your premise for technical reasons that I'd be willing to wager you can't address. Now, where's my list of ingredients, and no looking it up on the Internet...
Weapon core stored at site A, electronics package at site B. Wow, that was a tough one to solve.
You are forgetting that these are designed as infiltration devices, not "flight line" ready.
Correction: they had plans to hijack airliners and crash them into American buildings. How long do you figure it took them to realize that this plan might be suitable for their #1 target, the World Trade Center?
The hijackers only entered the US months before the attacks -- they weren't sleepers, the plan wasn't in place years before.
So based on the fact that 13 of the 19 hijackers entered the country between April, 2001 and June, 2001, you were able to nail down when this plan was put into place?
The other events you sight are determined by political will and human responses. The issue discussed here is technical and scientific. The will to build a nuclear weapon by a bunch of AQ guys running around the mountains of Waziristan does not overcome the technical requirements entailed.
They might also wish to crash a comet into Washington, but the physics just don't allow it.
Yes
So, what should be done? Stop everything until every rock is turned and every basement dug up? Dig a hole and crawl in?
Yes, but the notion of 5,000 hard core or fifth column or supporting/looking the other way ISLAMIST INDIVIDUALS the USA is not a far out concept!
What's your point?
The original plans were to fly a plane into the CIA HQ. After we nabbed Yousef in 95, he was flown through NYC in a helicopter... He stated that they would be back to bring the towers down, and that his arrest couldn't stop the plan. I think that it is quite likely they planned on using planes to take down the WTC at some point around, or just after then. KSM was also noted to have mentioned this possibility in 1998.
Yes, but the notion of 5,000 hard core or fifth column or supporting/looking the other way ISLAMIST INDIVIDUALS the USA is not a far out concept!
The electronics includes all the wiring for the bomb. Unless the bomber knows how to wire nukes, that won't hold (and why would you send someone that educated to be a martyr anyway? you'd only get to use these things once, instead of having him churning out more bombs for you). These were infiltration devices, yes, but designed to be supported by a massive infrastructure, that could bring them in and out when needed for maintenance. They aren't "fire-and-forget" simple.
But what's your point?
Certainly AQ is not going to be able to pull it off with out some sort of sponsorship. I bet there may be a few countries out there that might be willing to help out.
The statement #6 [is] accurate.
How many Fina & Shamrock convience stores do you have in your area? There is a bunch in mine. Most are owned/staffed by ME's. Several that I go into have a laptop sitting on a back counter with Arabic pages showing. I have gone in at times and once I step foot into the store, the laptop would be closed.
I don't/cannot read Arabic. How is that for covert? Right in front of us?
The AQ guys allegedly purchased these devices from disillusions Russians. They did not make them.
It would not be impossible to make one. There are numerous reports of fissionable material missing from railroad freight yards. The tools available to common people of today are highly more sophisticated that those that were available to the Manhattan project of the 1940s. Never assume that any enemy lacks the technical knowhow to accomplish anything. The time required to stage impressive attacks is generally consumed in preparations, including attendance at schools. Flight schools, or engineering schools. Any real difference?
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