[ExSoldier]

Indie, I respectfully disagree. I'm speaking as a graduate of the US Army's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare School. Given the right dispersal techniques and the proper climatic conditions, a nerve agent attack would give the terrorists what they so desperately seek: Near instantaneous mass casualties. It could be persistent for up to three or more days; meaning that anybody who touched contaminated surfaces (anything: flora, man made...anything) and not protected in MOPP 4 will die. Terrorists NEED more than anything that photo op and the sound bite. A Bio attack may come as a follow on attack, but it will take time to spool up and be uncertain enough for authorities to be able to pan it off as a natural occurrence like the Bird Flu or SARS or whatever. This would deny the TANGO'S their moment of glory in striking the Great Satan. I agree that a nuke is the ultimate nightmare I mean a real device not a so called "dirty bomb."

But a chemical attack can be easily rigged (hook up chemical mines in series and plant upwind of a county fair--detonate on command). Chemical mines come with instructions done in pictogram's so that this soviet HORROR can be set up by any uneducated commie pawn anywhere in the world. It is as easy as can be. Or set up an attack via an industrial fire extinguisher from the top of a very tall building. This scenario would require training, and access, and a suicide attacker because as soon as the pressure is released into the atmosphere, the person doing so is the first to die, unless he's in MOPP 4 gear. But given a warm muggy day, and a gentle breeze over downtown and you could generate an effective downwind drift sufficient to cover most of downtown Miami, Florida (my home). We are just now coming into the prime season for such an attack.

Chemical munitions are easy to come by. The former USSR and it's satellites have thousands of the things languishing in almost unguarded warehouses all over the world. They look innocuous, like home plate for a baseball team, just a bit thicker, but still plastic. They are binary in nature so the contents are inert until mixed before dispersal. There has already been such an attack in Baghdad last year. Somebody tried to set off an IED by detonating an artillery shell that was a BINARY SARIN shell, but it failed to properly mix. A dedicated cell with the training and a specific target will have trained to overcome that problem.

Just how are you going to decontaminate a forty story building in the dry season? Even if you get your rain shower, how are you going to prevent the deadliest substances known to man (VX Nerve Agent) from leaking into the ground water and contaminating the aquifer? DECON is easy: Hot soapy water but you still have to contain the runoff of contaminated water so it doesn't soak into the earth. Everything touched must be decontaminated: Personnel, vehicles, aircraft, buildings, everything. There are still spots in FRANCE that hold trace amounts of a BLISTER agent (Mustard Gas) left over from the FIRST World War! A chemical attack, no matter how effective or not would undeniably show the world that another 911 had occurred. But a bio attack can be plausibly denied whether or not it succeeds. Think like a terrorist? You bet!

[Indie]

I'm speaking as a graduate of the US Army's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare School. Given the right dispersal techniques and the proper climatic conditions, a nerve agent attack would give the terrorists what they so desperately seek: Near instantaneous mass casualties. It could be persistent for up to three or more days; meaning that anybody who touched contaminated surfaces (anything: flora, man made...anything) and not protected in MOPP 4 will die. Terrorists NEED more than anything that photo op and the sound bite. A Bio attack may come as a follow on attack, but it will take time to spool up and be uncertain enough for authorities to be able to pan it off as a natural occurrence like the Bird Flu or SARS or whatever. This would deny the TANGO'S their moment of glory

You changed my thinking!:)

Bio could kill millions more...but it would be tooooo slooooooow for a photo op spectacular and the plausible deniability thing as you say [we would deny it even if we knew it to be true most likely and the world would never know for sure perhaps.]

The chem and nuke would give them the instantaneous gruesome spectacular they desire and there would be no doubt it wasn't an accident.

Then a bio follow-up could be more easily claimed by the terrorists in advance; with us only being able to wait in shock and panic.

[I thought decon from VX was a shot of atrophine straight into the heart? ..LOL...TheRock-Nicholas Cage?] I do know one thing...it ain't "IF"...it is WHEN.