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"The CIA has identified 12 terrorist groups that have attempted to buy enriched uranium or plutonium in order to make a nuclear bomb, including Chechen separatists, Palestinian extremists and Islamic fundamentalists such as Osama bin Laden."

The holy grail for purchasers of nuclear weaponry is not, however, the small slabs of plutonium or enriched uranium that the petty smugglers are usually caught trying to sell; it is one of the 80 or so "backpack nukes" that were built for the Russian special forces during the Cold War.
These bombs were designed to be transported and activated by one man. They can deliver a one kiloton explosion - big enough to wipe out a small city. Gen Alexander Lebed, when he was Boris Yeltsin's defence minister, ordered an investigation into exactly where the "backpacks" were and who was looking after them. Yeltsin fired him before the investigation was completed.

Lebed remains convinced that the nuclear bombs have not been properly secured and could easily find their way on to the black market - and so into terrorist hands.

Makes you feel good... All the more frightening is the fact that we can do almost nothing about it, short of finding out where these things are-a difficult task at best. Makes a body glad to live way out in the woods.

All of which is exactly why we need to nuke Medina now. For those who don't know, it's the Muslim's #2 holy site -- the place where Mohammed is buried. Nuke it now, and hold Mecca, their prized jewel, hostage. Any terrorist who dares to "do" the USA again would then be guilty of destroying the very earthly presence of the very religion they are so very passionate about. A kind of modified mutually assured destruction. Medina must be nuked, NOW. We could even offer them a day to evacuate, since we are not so barbaric as to devalue the lives of civilians. We have 'em by the cajones and we have a good excuse. Are we smart enough to pull the trigger on the opportunity, though? Don't think so.