Officials think al Qaeda has some type of nuclear arms

The Washington Times via Drudge Report ^ | October 13, 2001 | By Bill Gertz

[vannrox]

Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan have developed chemical and biological weapons and could have nuclear-related arms, defense officials said yesterday.

"What we believe is that they have a crude chemical and possibly biological [weapons] capability," a senior defense official said.

[vannrox]

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[Soul Citizen]

Gertz is the Man!

[dep]

these are not atomic weapons per se but instead the equally ugly conventional bomb wrapped in something on the order of plutonium. makes for a very nasty situation, in that it poisons everyone and renders the surroundings uninhabitable.

dep

[tsomer]

A "nuclear" device would change the equation entirely, wouldn't it?

I'm thinking Baghdad, for starters.

[maquiladora]

Very interesting....

The threat is a crude radiation bomb is strong, IMHO.

[jwfiv]

Our Special Forces will probalby be hit by these types of weapons, once we hit the ground...by ambush, by booby trap, by suicide attack. I think we need to scorch the earth everywhere we plan to set foot, do our business, salt it when we leave.

[oust the louse]

BUT,is the bomb in the middle east or here in the states? If it's here and detonated....that will piss alot of people off.

[AF68]

We would have no choice but to respond in kind. Our weapons and delivery systems are much more effective, however. Maybe if Muslim countries started seeing mushroom clouds over their capitols, they would start cleaning house and rid themselves of the jihadists.

[ipaq2000]

ipaq2000 think the US has some type of nuclear arms TOO.

SHOW ME THE NUKE!

[tsomer]

Given reports of refugees flooding the Pakistan border, I'm wondering how closely this crowd is being monitored. I hope every male who crosses is interogated, even presumed a POW. The Tali-bunnies could be dispersing their army for some behind-the-lines shennanigans.

[MaeWest]

Mr. Rumsfeld said he does not believe the Taliban will 'surrender' bin Laden to the United States.

The official term is 'cough him up'.

[Fulbright]

Nuclear arms are so un-PC. Shame on them.

[d4now]

yep...cough him up like the big hairy wad of snot that he is.

[Conservative til I die]

I think they call those "dirty bombs" or something. Just a regular bomb that disperses plutonium rather than ball bearings or something.

[Cicero]

The article raises the nuclear issue, but doesn't really go into it in detail.

Pakistan has nuclear warheads, provided to them by the Chinese. And, before Bush put the fear of God into them, Pakistan's president and intelligence chief had a very close working relationship with the Taliban, whom they put into power with help from the Saudis.

I don't THINK they would have been stupid enough to give them nuclear weapons, but there has always been a possibility that Pakistan would be the source of an "Arab bomb." Some of the Arab nations have a ton of money, and money can buy almost anything in large enough quantities.

It can't be entirely ruled out.

[tsomer]

Would they have held this in reserve while getting their heads pounded in?

I doubt Osama-yomama has them. Sadam-Who-Is-Insane might, and he is devious enough to set Oso up while he watches and waits. Here's a scenario: Osam-I-am creates the stink; we respond, predictably, by massing large forces within striking range of Sadam's arsenal.

Dear God, I don't like this scenario at all; way too plausible.

Somebody call the boss.