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What would happen to Washington, DC if attacked by a nuclear bomb?
Nypost ^ | 03/23/2024

Posted on 03/23/2024 6:09:36 PM PDT by ChicagoConservative27

Hell on Earth. Washington, DC, Possibly Sometime in the Near Future

A 1-megaton thermonuclear weapon detonation begins with a flash of light and heat so tremendous it is impossible for the human mind to comprehend. One hundred and eighty million degrees Fahrenheit is four or five times hotter than the temperature at the center of the sun.

In the first fraction of a millisecond after the bomb strikes the Pentagon, there is light. Soft X-ray light with a very short wavelength. The light superheats the surrounding air to millions of degrees, creating a massive fire-ball that expands at millions of miles per hour. Within seconds, this fireball increases to a diameter of a little more than a mile, its light and heat so intense that concrete surfaces explode, metal objects melt or evaporate, stone shatters, humans instantaneously convert into combusting carbon. The five-story, five-sided structure and everything inside its 6.5 million square feet of office space explodes into superheated dust; all 27,000 Pentagon employees perishing instantly.

Not a single thing in the fireball remains. Nothing. Ground zero is zeroed.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: attacked; dc; newnationalholiday; nuclear; standingovation; washington
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To: MinorityRepublican; CrimsonTidegirl

To me Jericho quickly became about dating and relationships after nuclear war, it was sort of a soap opera.


101 posted on 03/23/2024 8:09:57 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ChicagoConservative27

I’d miss the Smithsonian.


102 posted on 03/23/2024 8:12:33 PM PDT by null and void (There’s only one thing that’s for sure. Everyone on all sides a conflict will be happy to lie to you)
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To: ChicagoConservative27
Much smaller nuclear device -- still took out a city. And caused less long-term damage than three generations of Democrat party rule.

103 posted on 03/23/2024 8:24:57 PM PDT by TomEd (Her şey hazır! Buyrun, şölene!)
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To: Ransomed

My first thought!


104 posted on 03/23/2024 8:38:46 PM PDT by 3ZZZ
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To: ChicagoConservative27
What would happen to Washington, DC if attacked by a nuclear bomb?

Uh......

:Closes mouth firmly:

105 posted on 03/23/2024 8:41:01 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

What would happen if a republican president cut a deal with another country to nuke NYC, Baltimore, Chicago, SF, LA, Seattle? Republicans would win the presidency and senate for the next 32 years, and Marxism would be replaced by “You work you eat you live”.


106 posted on 03/23/2024 8:55:35 PM PDT by Jumper
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Women, children, minorities, LGBQT hardest hit.


107 posted on 03/23/2024 8:58:32 PM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (Disband and Defund the putrid FBI. America does not need an out of control Gestapo)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

W e could breathe again


108 posted on 03/23/2024 9:00:23 PM PDT by combat_boots
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To: ChicagoConservative27

I have family and close friends in Fairfax and Loudon Counties in Virginia. :(

I wish they’d leave that area.


109 posted on 03/23/2024 9:02:45 PM PDT by Allegra (Does this tagline make my brain look smaller? Слава Україні! 🇺🇦 Русские свиньи, идите домой! Derp)
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To: OVERTIME
First, the primary objective of any nuclear device would be to cripple the government power structure in Washington. and cause panic among the populations...not to kill everything. Your post itself called it a "strategic" weapon.

The OP suggested the target being the Pentagon...so all discussion forward was with that in mind.

Was merely pointing out that I would most likely survive the original blast only...no subsequent radiation poisoning or dying from starvation, etc..

110 posted on 03/23/2024 9:05:28 PM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon))
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To: roadcat
Hopefully, the IRS admins will be gone. Yay, no federal taxes for a while!

IMO, the IRS probably doesn't know their ass from their elbow right now. They've been hacked...which explains the overabundance of radio commercials offering tax relief.

Don't forget. A whistleblower gets 10% of whatever is collected from a delinquent account.

The very first thing they'll collect from you in the initial contact with said 'company' is your personal information.

They don't give a rat's bleep about lowering your tax bill.

111 posted on 03/23/2024 9:10:42 PM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon))
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To: ChicagoConservative27

The culture would improve almost instantly.


112 posted on 03/23/2024 9:13:26 PM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: ChicagoConservative27

It would be the 4th of july all over again.


113 posted on 03/23/2024 9:15:43 PM PDT by kvanbrunt2
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Can you imagine the long line of losers going into hell that day?


      

114 posted on 03/23/2024 9:21:58 PM PDT by Songcraft ( )
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To: mware

I suspect state rights would take over until a national convention could be convened.>>> Why our form of government wouldn’t need to change at all. The country is essentially functioning without a president right now. The country had no president or congress before George W. State national guards would defend the country like they are doing now in texas. Maybe take over the military with all the gays and trannies running the place. And states don’t have rights people do.


115 posted on 03/23/2024 9:27:03 PM PDT by kvanbrunt2
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To: All

If it happened out of the blue, the federal government would cease to exist, but if it happened after even a relatively short escalation, the key people would be evacuated to safer locations and the nuclear strike would have little strategic value and a predictable consequence of destructive retaliation against (apparent) perpetrators.

I would imagine there are protocols to start evacuating key people in situations where tensions were rising. I don’t know if it has ever taken place (other than George W. Bush being prevented from returning to DC after 9-11), possibly in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis?

I don’t think it’s a secret that there are deep underground bunkers in the mountains near VA-WV border equipped for long-term residency and functioning of the U.S. government. A president would likely declare martial law and if not much of Congress survived, that president would probably rule by decree, or at least try to do so, quite possibly some states would declare it invalid and their state governments would be the recognized authorities, it would depend on the political situation before any such eventuality.

I cannot imagine a situation where a nuclear attack was limited to one location, anyone doing that would be inviting a massive retaliation, so the macabre logic of the situation is that a first strike should be massive to do as much as possible to reduce retaliation. Or, if the intent is nuclear blackmail (as in “do our will or more will come”) then to try that approach it would make sense to pick a symbolic target to demonstrate capability and intent, without raising the anger level to an automatic response. For example, if a hostile power with a desire to force a response wanted to make a point, they could say “in 24 hours, we will detonate a nuclear weapon at these co-ordinates (in remote unpopulated area like one finds in parts of interior west), give time for the very few inhabitants to leave, close access, then set it off and start the blackmail.

I don’t suppose the above would ever happen because there is no point, a nuclear power can start blackmail by just saying it is “on” without demonstrating what we already know, that they can set off a bomb. We as civilians cannot be entirely sure this has never happened, but our side could do it also, and perhaps we already have. Who’s to say that China is not on notice to stay out of Taiwan “or else x y and z will happen.” And that could have been U.S. policy since any year since 1960. Of course such a policy could be less than formal, it could have been communicated informally by any U.S. administration since late Eisenhower. Same goes with Russia (formerly USSR), they may well have been told, not just left to surmise, that appearance of Russian troops beyond stated borders would have predictable consequences.

Who knows, Russia today may have been told at some point after 2014, don’t cross the Dneiper, we will look the other way for Crimea and east Ukraine, or pretend to be angry, but if you cross the Dneiper (or come past a certain line in north Ukraine), it means all out war. There would be no particular reason to tell anyone about it, but it would explain why Zelensky persists. It would also explain why Russia never made much of a push towards Kyiv.

If I were at the NY Post, I would be more concerned about a nuclear strike on NYC than DC. But I would guess that both would be targets at the same time.


116 posted on 03/23/2024 9:56:57 PM PDT by Peter ODonnell (You don't have to like rainbow crosswalks to know a thug when you see one. )
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To: Peter ODonnell

“Of course such a policy could be less than formal, it could have been communicated informally by any U.S. administration since late Eisenhower. Same goes with Russia (formerly USSR), they may well have been told, not just left to surmise, that appearance of Russian troops beyond stated borders would have predictable consequences.”

Nixon told the story of how it was important for the leaders of the world to know each other. Even more important between enemies.

He told the story of Brezhnev(?) telling him that he would move Soviet troops into some valley just outside of Israel, and then Nixon would need to move our troops in. Nixon said that was a terrible idea having enemy troops in such close proximity - just waiting for an incident/accident to happen.

So he told Brezhnev that the USA had other options available to us if necessary.

“Now, Brezhnev might have thought that I was bluffing, but he knew me, and I knew him. He didn’t send his troops.”

Whether Nixon was telling a made-up story I have no idea. But it does sound plausible. Nixon made it sound like he spoke often with Brezhnev and others.

I did hear Nixon in an interview say that he would NEVER say that some sort of military option would NOT be used in some situation.


117 posted on 03/23/2024 10:17:06 PM PDT by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
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To: Recovering Ex-hippie
Nonsense. We would be free from our corrupt oppressers who despitefully use us. Screw them.

I don't see why the states couldn't preserve the union, for the most part.

118 posted on 03/23/2024 10:22:57 PM PDT by Manic_Episode (A government of the government, by the government, for the government)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

More like a nuclear psunami... they even have it depicted into our $100 bills.


119 posted on 03/23/2024 10:23:24 PM PDT by Safrguns
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To: ChicagoConservative27

APB would be put out for Madonna :)


120 posted on 03/23/2024 10:23:56 PM PDT by Zack Attack (✔)
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