Posted on 03/28/2006 7:55:56 AM PST by EastCobbRules
It's about the worst nightmare Americans could ever have.
Imagine Osama bin Laden with nuclear weapons and the wherewithal to get them inside the U.S.
According to Paul Williams, author of "The Dunces of Doomsday: 10 Blunders that Gave Rise to Radical Islam," it's time to stop imagining and start preparing for the grim reality of nuclear terrorism.
"The beginning of the end of Planet Earth" occurred 15 years ago, according to Williams. Much of the evidence of the impending holocaust is strewn around the globe, with al-Qaida and its allies at the helm.
Williams, a former FBI consultant and author of "The Al Qaeda Connection" and "Osama's Revenge," uncovers a "booming nuclear black market" in which bin Laden has been strategically complicit.
"The belief that bin Laden simply obtained these weapons to keep in his cave without concern for maintenance and upgrading has its roots in the erroneous and prejudicial notion that he is a backward camel jockey lacking knowledge of sophisticated weaponry, rather than a highly trained engineer and one of the most gifted military tacticians in contemporary history," Williams writes.
With its origins in the Soviet Union's voluntary withdrawal of its 22,000 nuclear weapons in the early 1990s, the nuke market has grown into an international trade, characterized by a dizzying and disconcerting bevy of untracked, lost and stolen weapons. In the first three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, some Russians desperate for survival amid resultant unemployment and widespread malnutrition turned to the temptations of the looming nukes for financial support and sustenance.
"The temptation would be too great for an ascetic 'saint' to resist, especially when a kilo of chromium-50 was selling for $25,000, cesium-157 for $1 million, and lithium for $10 million," says Williams.
Williams outlines that more than 10 years ago, German officials documented more than 700 attempted sales of nuclear weapons and materials. Major prospective buyers included Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and al-Qaida. These tracked sales do not take into account the many devices that seeped into the underground unchecked.
Consider these facts:
Bin Laden has been amassing a nuclear arsenal since 1992. His purchases have included at least 20 suitcase bombs from Chechen rebels, 48 suitcase nukes from the Russian Mafia, more than 20 kilos of uranium-236, several bars of enriched uranium, and 20 nuclear warheads. He's worked with scientists and technicians to create hard-to-detect suitcase and backpack bombs. These purchases have been supported by bin Laden's massive global opium enterprise.
Even a small amount of radioactive material has devastating effects. "A single gram of cesium, if inhaled or ingested, is a bone sucker," writes Williams. It causes hair loss, diarrhea, bleeding, delirium, high fever, purple fingernails, imminent death, various cancers and long-term environmental contamination. Now consider that bin Laden has amassed "enough radioactive material to plant a dirty nuke in every major American city."
The U.S. government played down radioactive deals that became common knowledge in the international community.
For years, For years, Iraqi al-Qaida operatives have been at the helm in combing the world for "loose nukes" that have flowed to Russia, Germany, Sudan, Libya, Pakistan and, yes, Iran, too. "The al-Qaida nuclear arsenal is not a matter of speculation but of substantiated fact ... the situation is dire," says Williams
It's not. One thing is certain: if al-Qaeda had nukes or radioactive material, it would be used as soon as possible.
Williams is a writer, who has to write books to survive. Scaring people seems to be his stock-in-trade.
And the nukes are super-duper secret unlinke his number 2, number3, number4, and number 5 man.
"His purchases have included at least 20 suitcase bombs from Chechen rebels, 48 suitcase nukes from the Russian Mafia, more than 20 kilos of uranium-236, several bars of enriched uranium, and 20 nuclear warheads."
Any way to verify this or do we have to just "believe that it's true"?
More tin foil hat nonsense. If Bin Laden had nukes he would of used them. Just more babble from the Chicken Littles to sell books.
What a load of crap! So why haven't the Chechens used them???
its gonna happen sooner or later.
You might also watch the excellent Brit movie, "Dirty War," about a dirty bomb that goes off in London.
--it has been pretty well established here on FR that there are no "suitcase nukes" anymore--age has made them unusable if nothing else.--
I agree with Sinkspur that if they had 'em, they'd use 'em---
Y'know, Bin Laden might have also gotten from the Germans some of that super-secret UFO technology
.... or the even worse MTUYBT - ( Muslim Terrorist Under Your Bed Teleporter )
It would be used as soon as possible and Bush would be blamed as soon as possible. Can you imagine the absolute mind blowing hypocrisy that would come from the left if there were another terror attack in the US? "Why didn`t Bush do anything? Why didn`t he increase surveillance?"
WND doesn't have the best track record in regards to accuracy, generally their articles seem to be about promoting someone's 'scare' book.
Richard Minitier---a very reliable author---in his book "Disinformation" blows the "suitcase nukes" idea out of the water (to mix metaphors or whatever). A "suitcase nuke" is not the size of a suitcase: it's the size of an NFL locker, and so heavy it would take 4-5 people to carry it. So you won't see Mohammad walking down the street with a briefcase that can irradiate Manhattan.
Is there documentation that supports this?
The "suitcase nukes" have been repeatedly discounted.
They were extremely sensitive and had a shelf-life of about 3 years. Since the last ones were made some 20 years ago, I'll let you decide how valid this guy's arguments are.
Oh come on! It's World Nut Daily. Of course it's true! And to to doubt its veracity means your patriotism may be called into question in some locations at some future point in time....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.