Posted on 03/03/2002 10:51:07 AM PST by antidemocommie
"Counterterrorism experts and government officials interviewed by TIME say that for all the relative calm since Sept. 11, Americas luck will probably run out again, sooner or later." "It's going to be worse, and a lot of people are going to die," warns one U.S. counterterrorism official. "I don't think there's a damn thing we're going to be able to do about it."
Read on:...That made the DRAGONFIRE report alarming. So did this: detonated in lower Manhattan, a 10-kiloton bomb would kill some 100,000 civilians and irradiate 700,000 more, flattening everything in a half-mile diameter.
The following is more information that you can use to protect yourself, and your family. Also, in your opinion, is the administration correct? Are we likely to see a ten kiloton device set off inside the country? Please keep in mind that this kind of nuke is very small, and easily carried by one or two persons, today.
These following two pages came from:
1. Click
2. Click
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Blast Zones
. . . . . . . . [5] [4] [5] . . . . . . . . . . [3] _ [3] . . . [2] . . . _._ . . .~ ~. . . . [4] . .[2]. [1] .[2]. . [4] . . . . . . . ~-.-~ . . . [2] . . . [3] - [3] . . . . . . ~ ~ . ~ [5] . [4] . [5] . . . . . .
10 KILOTONS | 1 MEGATON | 20 MEGATONS | |
---|---|---|---|
Zone | Airburst - 1,980 ft | Airburst - 8,000 ft | Airburst - 17,500 ft |
1 | 0.5 miles | 2.5 miles | 8.75 miles |
2 | 1 mile | 3.75 miles | 14 miles |
3 | 1.75 miles | 6.5 miles | 27 miles |
4 | 2.5 miles | 7.75 miles | 31 miles |
5 | 3 miles | 10 miles | 35 miles |
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Hiroshima
As many know, atomic bombs have been used only twice in warfare. The first and foremost blast site of the atomic bomb is Hiroshima. A Uranium bomb (which weighed in at over 4 & 1/2 tons) nicknamed "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima August 6th, 1945. The Aioi Bridge, one of 81 bridges connecting the seven-branched delta of the Ota River, was the aiming point of the bomb. Ground Zero was set at 1,980 feet. At 0815 hours, the bomb was dropped from the Enola Gay. It missed by only 800 feet. At 0816 hours, in the flash of an instant, 66,000 people were killed and 69,000 people were injured by a 20 kiloton atomic explosion.
The point of total vaporization from the blast measured one half of a mile in diameter. Total destruction ranged at one mile in diameter. Severe blast damage carried as far as two miles in diameter. At two and a half miles, everything flammable in the area burned. The remaining area of the blast zone was riddled with serious blazes that stretched out to the final edge at a little over three miles in diameter.
On August 9th 1945, Nagasaki fell to the same treatment as Hiroshima. Only this time, a Plutonium bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" was dropped on the city. Even though the "Fat Man" missed by over a mile and a half, it still leveled nearly half the city. Nagasaki's population dropped in one split-second from 422,000 to 383,000. 39,000 were killed, over 25,000 were injured. That blast was less than 10 kilotons as well. Estimates from physicists who have studied each atomic explosion state that the bombs that were used had utilized only 1/10th of 1 percent of their respective explosive capabilities.
California still has many companies involved in the defense industry. Let's hope some of the "moving on" is with increased R&D and production.
100,000 casualties
Now what are the victims of the WTC getting from the federal government? I think I heard at least $1,000,000 each
so the federal payout for this next scenario would be $1,000,000 times 100,000 that's just a cool $100,000,000,000.
Also noted in my latest Humana health insurance policy (in very very small print) Treatment of injuries received as a result of war, declared or undeclared, will not be covered. Called the folks at Humana and asked if that meant terrorism and they said, Yep.( By the way, I checked this info out with the insurance commissioner's office and they told me all upcoming policies will contain this waiver.)
While I do not put it past Iraq or North Korea as possibly having a crude or "dirty" nuke on hand, I doubt the Terrorists have one as it would have been used by now. As a matter of question; why would they have taken the time to train 20 or so men to fly an aircraft into a building when they could have simply sit in the harbor and rowed a boat ashore placing their 'device' next to buildings and making most of the lower tip of Manhattan a garbage dump?
I am with you, I think they do not have one, but will do anything to try and get one.
I guess it would depend if the terrorists would be trying to make a point and cripple the Govt (DC) or want to run up casualties (Gay Bay).
No kidding. Using 'probably' here
along with the open-ended 'sooner
or later' reads like some high-school
kid's homework report. Lameness
has achieved the main stream.
SNL is America.
Why would nukes be more likely after 9/11 than before???
Why would they be interested in crop dusters for unwieldy bioterror, and not small cargo-carrying type planes for a nuke delivery??
Well, let's pray that your optimism is not misplaced.
On the other hand, the only thing that has prevented a nuclear holocaust for the past 50 years has been the presence of at least a few rational decision-makers on each side.
We seem to have lost that- and nuclear weapons are NOT that difficult to come by...
You, sir, are willing to see the elephant in the living room. For the rest of us, it'll be far too late.
Again, such a nuke, or even a dirty bomb wouldn't even be as effective at spreading radiation as a small housefire burning irradiated fuel.
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