[Trust but Verify]

Ok, the title says there are 2 0'suitcase' nukes' in the US, but the body of the post says bin Laden has purchased 20, not that they're in the US. There's a difference. I don't beleive he has any of this stuff. If he did, why would he be trying to build nuclear weapons? Why go to all that trouble if you have ready-made ones?

[blam]

"Why go to all that trouble if you have ready-made ones?"

I'm guessing all the things that were found were from a class room.

[UnChained]

There's a difference. I don't beleive he has any of this stuff. If he did, why would he be trying to build nuclear weapons? Why go to all that trouble if you have ready-made ones?

Oooh! Oooh! I know! The primitive plans left behind for us to find were just a smokescreen to keep us from suspecting that he already has working nukes.

One might wonder what occasion Bin Laden is saving them for though.

[NeonKnight]

I would think that if the Russians are missing suitcase Nukes....we are probably the ones who have them.

Mo' money, Mo' Motive, Mo' Means.

[zog]

"If he did, why would he be trying to build nuclear weapons? Why go to all that trouble if you have ready-made ones?"

Bubba bin redneck bought 20 derringers at the gunshow. Why would bubba want to get a shotgun or a rifle, when he already has 20 derringers? Aren't they powerful enough, and doesn't he have enough firepower already?

same question

[RBroadfoot]

Ok, the title says there are 2 0'suitcase' nukes' in the US, but the body of the post says bin Laden has purchased 20, not that they're in the US. There's a difference. I don't beleive he has any of this stuff. If he did, why would he be trying to build nuclear weapons? Why go to all that trouble if you have ready-made ones?

Putin said the suitcase bombs are the stuff of legend, but then what would you expect him to say.

If the Russian mafia managed to steal such devices, it seems highly unlikely that they would be able to obtain their detonation codes. Certainly, the Russkies had fairly sophisticated safeguards on a device that could readily set off a thermonuclear World War III. If al-Queda actually acquired such devices, I'm fairly confident that the enriched U235 or plutonium would be their primary value. The fissionable material probably could be safely removed and then used to construct an atomic or radiological bomb.

This, of course, is the optimistic version of the worst case. They may be able to detonate the original bombs. Remember a couple of years ago when a CIA laptop computer with Soviet detonation codes turned up missing? Was it ever recovered, and even if it had been recovered, who's to say its contents had not been copied?

Of course, this is just idle speculation ... I only know what I read in the papers, and I don't lose a lot of sleep over this.

[Migraine]

I don't beleive he has any of this stuff. If he did, why would he be trying to build nuclear weapons? Why go to all that trouble if you have ready-made ones?

I agree. Plus, why fly planes into WTC when you have nukes already. Why not just set all 20 off at once on 20 different cities. No way does he have 'em, or else he would've already used 'em by now.

[itsahoot]

I don't beleive he has any of this stuff.

Besides everyone knows, it is impossible to get some
nut to fly a plane into a skyscraper......

[js1138]

I don't beleive he has any of this stuff. If he did, why would he be trying to build nuclear weapons?

I'm sure that suitcase nukes are not "light the fuse and run" devices. It's quite possible that any that have been divirted are missing key components -- what's more fun to a mafia than betraying its customers?

I don't believe any sane government would build a nuke that could easily be used by a rogue technician to blackmail the government. there would be safeguards on the triggering device. Perhaps the "fuel" would be held separately.