Posted on 10/13/2001 6:50:34 PM PDT by blam
BIN LADEN'S NUCLEAR PLOT: Al-Qaeda's men held secret meetings to build 'dirty bomb'
Adam Nathan and David Leppard
EVIDENCE has emerged of a plan by Osama Bin Laden to manufacture a "dirty bomb" that could spray nuclear material over highly populated areas.
British intelligence services are investigating claims by a Bulgarian businessman that he was approached earlier this year by a middleman for Bin Laden seeking to obtain highly radioactive material.
The pair discussed setting up an environmental company as a front to buy nuclear waste that could be combined with conventional explosives to create a "dirty bomb".
It is believed to be at least the fourth attempt by Bin Laden to obtain nuclear material. The Saudi terrorist has publicly vowed to gain weapons of mass destruction.
The latest approach was made in April after Ivan Ivanov, a Bulgarian businessman with long-standing ties to a Middle Eastern contracting firm, was invited to Pakistan.
On his arrival in Peshawar, Ivanov, a former Bulgarian intelligence officer, said it became clear his hosts were enthusiastic supporters of Bin Laden. They apparently saw his political links in eastern Europe as a "useful asset".
Speaking in a cafe on the outskirts of Sofia last week, Ivanov recalled how the men took him to see Bin Laden, who was speaking at a religious festival on April 10 on the outskirts of Peshawar.
At the time Bin Laden was wanted for his alleged involvement in the bombing in 1998 of two American embassies in Africa, in which more than 200 people had been killed. Yet Ivanov claimed uniformed Pakistani soldiers armed with M-16 machine guns had provided security.
A day later, Ivanov said he was taken on a rough mountainous bus ride along Pakistan's remote border with China. There he was led to a secret location, where he was introduced to Bin Laden as "our partner from Europe".
When Ivanov discreetly checked his Magellan 310 global positioning system, it showed the meeting had actually taken place in China. Western intelligence sources described the meeting near the Pakistani border as "credible".
Ivanov then travelled with his new business associates to a large villa in Rawalpindi. The next day he was approached by a Pakistani scientist who described himself as chemical engineer.
The scientist, who was highly educated and spoke almost fluent English, said he was interested in obtaining spent nuclear fuel rods from the Kozlodui nuclear electricity plant in Bulgaria.
"He wanted a legitimate way of buying nuclear waste from the power plant," said Ivanov. "He was ready to give me money in advance to find local companies to help him to export this material."
Ivanov was offered $200,000 (£137,000) to help set up an environmental firm to buy nuclear waste, and asked if he would run the company. He declined the offer and, on his return home, informed officials in Bulgaria of the meeting.
British authorities in Pakistan later discovered the 49-year-old scientist had been issued with two six-month visas to visit Britain in the last two years. They are now investigating his links with the Bin Laden network.
Although his trips to Britain remain a mystery, intelligence officials believe the scientist may have met sympathisers at British universities or tried to set up front companies similar to the one planned in Bulgaria.
Ivanov's account of the Bin Laden plot has been backed by Velizar Shalamanov, the former Bulgarian deputy defence minister, who last week said Ivanov had worked for the government.
A British diplomatic source in Pakistan said: "This appears to be a sophisticated plot using a scientist and a credible front company, and that is a concern."
Although British intelligence believes Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network may have some crude chemical weapons such as cyanide, there is no evidence to suggest he has obtained any nuclear material.
In September 1998 Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, alleged to be a high-level aide to Bin Laden, was arrested in Germany after trying to buy low- grade nuclear reactor fuel.
Jamal al-Fadl, a former Bin Laden aide, told the FBI he had witnessed Al-Qaeda members trying to buy enriched uranium in the mid-1990s, according to court documents. He also claimed to have been to Sudan, where an associate of an army officer tried to sell him uranium for £1m. Bin Laden has never made any secret of his interest in acquiring nuclear weapons. In an interview in January 1999, he said: "It would be a sin for Muslims not to try to possess the weapons that would prevent the infidels from inflicting harm on Muslims."
The west cannot possibly police these groups without help from Arab governments. We have to make it clear to the Arab world: if they allow something like this to happen, the first wave of our nuclear retaliation will include this target: Mecca.
Message: Help us prevent this kind of unthinkable attack or we Melt Mecca.
There is no future for Islam without Mecca. It is their most vulnerable point. And we should be pressing it.
They used three airplanes as weapons of mass destruction on 9/11/2001 and there are people advising against glassing the desert. I understand your frustration though.
Is anthrax a WMD?
They seem to prefer knives when given the chance. Cut kill, cut kill. Sick SOB'S!
I understand. I also see from our actions that not only are those cards NOT on the table, they've been removed from the deck. We evidently do not have the resolve to win this. JMO. And no, I don't particularly like it.
Note also the remark about suspect college professors; as if those don't exist in the US as well. This is a big, intertwined network that must systematically be torn apart.
I have no doubt that they have something up their sleeve, but I also suspect that the response will be overwhelming this time. Bunker busters? I think we'll save those.
The China connection is intriguing as well. I don't think China would even think about a frontal attack, but a puppet attack is well within their capability. The trick here will be awakening the big bear and aligning them with us. IMHO, of course.
You gotta be kidding. I can see the post now. "How do we know who did it? Could have been a domestic terrorist. Could have been a postal worker. Maybe it was an astroid or comet. Maybe it was done by our own government to have an excuse to go get all that oil over there. etc.. etc...etc.."
From the Physics Fact Book
The most important isotope of plutonium is Pu-239. It's virtually nonexistent in nature. It is produced by bombarding uranium-238 with slow neutrons. This forms neptunium-239, which in turn emits a beta particle and forms plutonium-239. Plutonium-239's principal mode of decay is alpha decay. Various sources give slightly different figures for the half-life. The values found include 24,360, 24,400, 24,110, and 24,000 years. None of theses measurements agree.
If they got a hold of some Plutonium-239, that stuff would be around for quite a while.
China helps Iraq and Sadam Hussein and Sadam Hussein helps Bin Laden and China helps Bin Laden.
Earlier this year Bin Laden sent 200 Alqaeda members to train in Iraq on how to deliver biological, chemical and nuke weapons. Now we learn that the hijacker pilot Atta met with the Iraqis not only in 2000 but also in April 2001. And now it is strongly suspected Atta and the Iraqis helped develop and deliver the refined, tailored and fine, smaller sized anthrax to the Florida AMI facility.
If the US does not take out Iraq now the US will not survive within a very short time (less than a year?). And even if we do, it may still be too late to avert serious damage in the US at the hands of the Iraqi trained AlQaeda members.
Please hurry President Bush, Mr Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney. Do not delay any longer. Move against Iraq NOW!.
It's probably worse than that. Check out this link...
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