[Sabertooth]

"The vernacular quickly spun out of my comprehension but there were phrases through the mass of chemical symbols and physics jargon that anyone could understand, including notes on how the detonation of TNT compresses plutonium into a critical mass producing a nuclear chain reaction and eventually a thermo-nuclear reaction.

This was only what was left behind by frightened men escaping the advance of the Mujahidin.

The sensitive material is still with them."

Uh-oh.

[RightWhale]

Anybody who stayed awake to some degree in high school physics knows this much. They might have missed the part about how to handle either uranium or plutonium so you can live long enough to open Allah's Suitcase. If you get past that, you won't get much result by carrying one chunk of plutonium in each hand over to the pizzaria and then clapping them together --aside from flash burns.

[Samwise]

Thanks for the ping.

I keep telling myself that if he had them, he would've used them.

The majority of the bomb-making instructions were easy to understand and used domestic items, including Alka Seltzer tubes, condoms, wax, mousetraps and cigarettes as contact switches to initiate charges.

So will the airlines be confiscating these items now?

[Victoria Delsoul]

The discovery of the detailed bomb-making instructions, along with studies into chemical and nuclear devices, confirms the West's worst fears and raises the spectre of plans for an attack that would far exceed the September 11 atrocities in scale and gravity. Nuclear experts say the design suggests that bin Laden may be working on a fission device, similar to Fat Man, the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. However, they emphasised that it was extremely difficult to build a viable warhead.

Bin Laden has said it is his "religious duty" to obtain a nuclear bomb.

It's time for him and his terrorist network to go!

[hchutch]

You know what the Russians say with a nasty surprise like this?

Yob tvoyu mat!.

[My Favorite Headache]

Did they make note on whether or not this bomb was being kept in an office in Harlem?

[harpseal]

Since Al-Qaeda has multiple links to Pakistans nuclear program and has the allegiance of several of its top people the only question is does Al Qaeda have enough fissile material to make the devices. My best guess is yes they do. The population density of some American cities at some times of day is ten to twenty times that of Hiroshima Japan in August 1945.

I further note that from what is discussed in this article there is nothing here that could not be compiled from open sources. Of course undergraduate physics students have been able to replicate the design of the plutonium bomb (fat man) for twenty years now.

Stay well - stay safe - stay armed - Yorktown