This weekend I read Paul Williams' "Osama's Revenge", re: nuclear suitcase bombs, etc. I found it to be short on evidence of his assertion that there are 20-48 suitcase bombs ready to be detonated in CONUS. I have mentioned elsewhere that the working theory is that there are two suitcase bombs that have made it ashore. That is backed up by George Tenet's report to POTUS. Williams cites evidence that Chechens traded nuclear suitcase bombs for opium with street value in the hundreds of millions. Williams did not explain how a Russian military unit would dare to auction off a suitcase nuke to their avowed enemies, the Chechens, for any price. He also draws on one Russians testimony of "48 suitcases" as conclusive evidence that there are 48 nuclear suitcase buried here around the country. Further, he spent a good deal of the book discussing the ease of assembling a radiological bomb, which (between you and me) is pretty irrelevant if you're carrying around forty-eight nuclear suitcase bombs. All in all, it was a decent overview of Osama's "raison d'etre", but he offered nothing but "public statements" from shadowy Islamic clerics (who are TOTALLY reliable, as we all know) as proof that we were on the brink of a nuclear holocaust that would do away with Western civilization.
I am in agreement that an immense amount of nuclear material went missing after the fall of the USSR. I am in agreement that al Qaeda would gladly light up an American city when they deem the time is right. I am in agreement that even a one megaton explosion in NY would plunge the economy into a depression... I don't agree, however, that every Russian, Chechnyan, or Islamic radical that boasts of our doom should be taken as bearing the truth. I can see how people would become seriously frightened by what Williams asserts in this book, however, there's much more filler than substance when it comes to backing up his claim...
Do either of you have an opinion on his claims? If his warnings are correct, I can't imagine there's any hope for us but to continue the pre-emptive policy and declare war on Islam. Somehow, I don't see that happening...
ping