Posted on 08/16/2006 11:54:53 AM PDT by BenLurkin
SANTA MONICA, Calif. A nuclear blast at the Port of Long Beach could kill 60,000 people, expose 150,000 to radiation, send 6 million people fleeing and cause 10 times the economic losses attributed to 9/11, according to the Rand Corp.
Those projections are based on a scenario that assumes terrorists detonate a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb hidden in a shipping container shortly after it is unloaded at a Port of Long Beach pier.
"We used this scenario because analysts consider it feasible," said a summary of the report, which was an amplification of a study that the Santa Monica-based think tank conducted for the Department of Homeland Security in 2004.
But Rand officials said the study was not meant to predict such an attack was likely.
Based on the nuclear-blast scenario, Rand researchers conducted "strategic games" with leaders from government, business, and the insurance and real estate industries, according to Rand.
"Participants shared their perspectives on what the attack's longer-term consequences might be and outlined the decisions they would be likely to make in response to the sequence of events our scenario analysis suggested," the study said.
"They also anticipated the decision-making challenges that might arise and reflected on strategies that might address these problems."
The attack assumed by Rand researchers could prove overwhelming in the short-term and beyond. Within 72 hours, according to the study, the explosion would "devastate a vast portion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area," including a port complex that handles about a third of the nation's imports.
So the Dems have activated their sleeper cell agents in the media. The talking points have begun. Ports not safe, We're not safe, You're not safe, Bush making everybody unsafe
See, this gets me. The mainstream enemy propagandists will print stories like this and yet will aid the enemy. Makes them pretty evil folks, it appears.
Makes you wonder how much damage would result from a suitcase nuke carried over the US-Mexican border to downtown San Diego...
Media: Nuclear Weapons are dangerous.
This qualifies for a Bottom News Story Of The Day from Best of the Web.
Or a larger one driven over in an uninspected truck.
Study: Too many beans could lead to gas.
Yes, that too (and more likely).
These were my exact thoughts. GMTA.
Oh, that's right, Clinton sold that to China.
And unfortunately, it will take something of this magnitude to get the Dem's attention re: the reality of the WOT. :(
why would they assume it would have to be unloaded first?
Only one way to find out.
Yup!
But they would get boffo footage for the 6:00 News. Ratings would be through the roof!
And after that, I would hope that the Middle East, North Korea, etc. would be parking lots that glow in the dark.
Study:
Sun rises in the East.
There would likely be no local TV stations on the air and nobody to watch anyway if they are all fleeing. The EMP blast would likely knock the local electronics out... I would think.
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