Al-Qaeda plans 'Hiroshima'

AL-QAEDA leaders in Iraq are planning the first "large-scale" terrorist attacks on Britain and other western targets with the help of supporters in Iran, according to a leaked intelligence report. Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on "a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki" in an attempt to "shake the Roman throne", a reference to the West, according to The Times newspaper in the UK. Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a "change in the head of the company". The report, produced earlier this month and seen by The Sunday Times, appears to provide evidence that Al-Qaeda is active in Iran and has ambitions far beyond the improvised attacks it has been waging against British and American soldiers in Iraq. There is no evidence of a formal relationship between Al-Qaeda, a Sunni group, and the Shi’ite regime of President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad, but experts suggest that Iran’s leaders may be turning a blind eye to the terrorist organisation’s activities," reports The Times.

And I should add that the only alternative that seems to have any traction is ethanal. Do you know anything about ethanol? It would take every scrap of land from coast to coast to grow enough plant material to fuel the ethanal plants which couldn’t begin to feed our engines. And it costs more and takes more energy to creat a gallon of ethanol than it does to refine a gallon of gasoline. What kind of proposition is that? Lose, lose, I’d say.

In the mean time the price of corn goes up (already has around here) and then the price of meat goes up (what do you think hogs and cattle eat?) And refining ethanol also pollutes the air we breathe. Yi, yi, yi. There is no end to this!

Interesting theory and it probably has a lot of merit. But, you are missing one point. It will take 35-40 years to develop an alternative to fossil fuels, if ever. We are at a political standstill in this country about doing ANYTHING!

Kennedy said we'd go to the moon before the decade was over when the space program was looking like a mess, yet we got there against all odds because the we established a national vision and said nothing would stand in our way. History doesnt recall what FDR said when he established the Manhattan project, but again given a national imperative, appropriate resources, and a sense of urgency, we created atomic bombs in a couple of years.

Why cant we institute something like that now? I am not talking about building windmills or drilling for oil in Alaska. I'm talking about changing the game. Think big. Nuclear fusion maybe.

Aside from crippling islamic nuts by taking away all their dough, it would have another nice side effect. It is my opinion that the US got where it is because it was almost totally resource independant up until the mid 20th century. Steel, coal, oil, wheat, cotton, etc. We had it all, didnt need to strike compromising bargains with anyone and hence we could act rightously. Energy independance would give us some of that opportunty back. I want the shining city on a hill back.

I have to defer to my husband, the engineer, on this. He has worked in both nuclear and petroleum engineering and has also designed and built wind turbines. He says that there is nothing that is as efficient in producing BTUs as oil. It’s cheap, easily recovered, and we have a ton of it and it is making more every day right under our feet.

Politics is the problem. No one in Washington really has the will to go after resources that we already own. And no one in Washington is willing to stand up against the greens in order to efficiently utilize our vast coal resources either. And when was the last time a nuclear plant was built in this country? No, our politicians are busy scrapping nuclear plants and giving them away to our enemies.

FDR established the Manhatten Project in SECRET. The people working on it didn’t know what it was and didn’t know each other. My father in law worked on it for GE Carboloy Division, and he didn’t even know what his part was for — just a real good guess after some of the details were revealed years later. There would have been a huge outcry had the nation known what was coming. When was the last time our government did anything in secret? The dopey Dems want to broadcast our withdrawal date from Irag, for crying out loud!

I totally agree with your last paragraph. We should be self sufficient as a nation. Exporting our raw materials and importing finished goods is driving us into the status of a 3rd world country! We’re almost at colony status when every need had to be met by England! Look at Toys R Us or Sam’s Club some day. Try to find anything Made In USA at the mall any more.

Bush might have been able to institute something like you are suggesting in the months after 9/11, but he doesn’t have the political capital to start such a project now.

if we go, China goes...since we are a big part of their economy....

and if we go....the OPEC countries can kiss their steady flow of oil money away.....we'll be in depression and oil will just not be needed, or severly restricted....

I know the ignorant Islamists don't think ahead...well, make that think period....

Bush might have been able to institute something like you are suggesting in the months after 9/11, but he doesn’t have the political capital to start such a project now.

Well, if he said he wanted to do it to eliminate the islamic threat by cutting off it's head (i.e. the fatcat sheiks and rogue nations that use oil money to fund it) then you're surely right, he couldnt make it happen with an appease-and-surrender congress like we have now. BUT if he introduced it as a giant initiative to get us "carbon neutral", to borrow a currently fashionable buzz phrase, he could use the global warming hysteria as a tool to make some progress. Also, given that context, congress could get behind it because, lets face it, a project like I'm proposing would be a pork-a-palooza. NASA was great pork too, but it led us to a useful outcome. I'd rather see the pork go to establish research labs in a next gen fuel technology than wasted on dopey welfare projects.

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.