Posted on 05/22/2015 3:46:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
ISLAMIC State (ISIS) are poised to buy its first nuclear bomb "within a year", the terror group claimed tonight.
The jihadists are looking to get hold of an atomic weapon or thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate explosive.
The merciless organisation says it hopes to purchase a nuclear device “through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials” in Pakistan.
But it admits that obtaining the deadly weapon may be a challenge and says it would settle for a “few thousand tons of ammonium nitrate explosive”.
The chilling boast was made in the latest edition of its propaganda ‘magazine’ circulated to publicise the group’s barbaric aims.
ISIS says it has already seized “tanks, rocket launchers, missile systems, anti-aircraft systems” – and is now setting its sights on the ultimate dirty bomb.
The article reads: “Let me throw a hypothetical operation onto the table.
“The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wil?yah [powerful friends] in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region."
“It’s the sum of all fears for Western intelligence agencies and it’s infinitely more possible today than it was just one year ago.
"And if not a nuke, what about a few thousand tons of ammonium nitrate explosive? That’s easy enough to make."
Islamic State fighterAP ISIS fighters captured the Syrian city of Palmyra The propaganda piece, which is attributed to British hostage and journalist John Cantlie, also warns an attack by ISIS on the US would ridicule "the attacks of the past".
Mr Cantlie has appeared in past ISIS propaganda videos, dubbed the 'Lend me your ears' series.
The article adds: "They’ll [Isis] be looking to do something big, something that would make any past operation look like a squirrel shoot, and the more groups that pledge allegiance the more possible it becomes to pull off something truly epic.
“Remember, all of this has happened in less than a year. How more dangerous will be the lines of communication and supply a year on from today?”
The remarks follow a week that has seen two major victories for ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
The fall of Ramadi, close to Baghdad, and the ancient city of Palmyra, in central Syria, has revealed cracks in the government-backed armies of the two embattled nations.
David Kilcullen who was a key player in the US 2007-08 Iraq troop 'surge' and a close observer of the rise of ISIS said: "Simply put, the Islamic State is, or is on the verge of becoming, what it claims to be: a state.
"ISIS fights like a state…It fields more than 25,000 fighters, including a hard core of...al-Qaeda veterans.
“It has a hierarchical unit organisation and rank structure, populated by former regular officers of Saddam Hussein's [Iraq’s former dictator] military.”
ISIS is thought to control up to half of Syria and a third of Iraq.
It has its own military and security force, an administration that runs daily life - schools, government offices, utilities, hospitals, taxation and a justice system that follows sharia law.
The resources ISIS has at its despoil are also vast, including oilfields, refineries and agricultural land.
It operates more like a regular army with a recruiting network, training camps and a propaganda machine.
However nuclear experts have cast doubts on claims to use an atomic weapon.
The United Nations nuclear agency has played down the threat, saying that the material ISIS could get hold of would likely be “low-grade” would not pose a major threat.
Don’t be surprised if there is one hell of an attack right before the next election. If that happens, and I believe it will, probably in Texas, Obama stays in the white house and the republicans support him.
I am sure that through intermediaries they could have done it. Nowadays, not so sure with all the bad publicity. Pakistan is also sour on playing games with Al Qaeda and the Taleban who want to now overthrow Pakistan altogether.
The only way for them to accomplish that would be through serious blackmail, arm twisting and eventual takeover of Pakistan itself.
Now a place like Bulgaria, they could get detonators.
If ISIS gets a Nuke will they know Washington DC is our most important city? Not trying to give them advice or anything....
Since you put it that way, we need to move the Smithsonian collections, the Library of Congress, and leave everything else right where it is. ;’)
The use of which bomb will be Obama’s real legacy ...
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