Posted on 04/13/2008 9:47:53 AM PDT by MaestroLC
Al-Qaida's nuclear attack against the US is in planning stages, top American intelligence officials have said.
Deposing before a Congressional Committee on Homeland Security early this week, these US intelligence officials told US lawmakers that the threat of nuclear attack by the Taliban was growing and there is need to enhance its security measures.
Charles Allen, Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis and Chief Intelligence Officer at the Department of Homeland Security; and Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, the director of Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence for the Department of Energy testified before this key Congressional committee on nuclear terrorism on April 2.
''There's been a long-term effort by Al-Qaida, to develop an improvised nuclear device,'' Allen said. ''I have no doubt that Al-Qaida would like to obtain nuclear capability. I think the evidence in their statements that they've made over many years publicly indicate this,'' he argued in his testimony.
Giving details of the Al-Qaida preparation, based on years on intelligence inputs, Mowatt-Larssen said: ''An Al-Qaida nuclear attack would be in the planning stages at the same time as several other plots, and only Al-Qaida's most senior leadership will know which plot will be approved.''
In keeping with Al-Qaida's normal management structures such as the role of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad in the 9/11 attacks, Mowatt-Larssen said there is probably a single individual in charge, overseeing the effort to obtain materials and expertise.
The intelligence officials commented that some nuclear experts / scientists may have joined Al-Qaida years ago, long before the world began paying adequate attention to the proliferation of the kinds of technologies that could yield a terrorist nuclear weapon.
Referring to the planning of the 9/11 attack, Mowatt-Larssen said it was operationally very straightforward. ''It had a very small footprint, was highly compartmented. Al-Qaida's nuclear effort would be just as compartmented and probably would not require the involvement of more than a small number of operatives who carried out 9/11,'' he said.
Mowatt-Larssen then went out to divulge his information about a prototypical Al-Qaida nuclear attack plot. This would have, he said, approval and oversight from Al-Qaida's most senior leadership, with possible assistance from other groups and a planner responsible for organizing the material, expertise and fabrication of a device; operational support facilitator, responsible for arranging travel, money, documents, food and other necessities for the cell; assets in the United States or within range of other Western targets to case locations for an attack and to help move the attack team into place; and finally, the attack team itself.
This hearing was followed by another classified session wherein other details about the possible nuclear attack by the Al-Qaida terrorist network were possibly explained to the US lawmakers in details.
''Beyond the basics I have outlined here, we do not know what a terrorist plot might look like. There is, however, a chokepoint in a terrorist effort to develop a nuclear capability. It is impossible to build a nuclear weapon without fissile material,'' he said.
The officials said that the task for the intelligence community is not easy. ''We must find something that is tactical in size but strategic in impact. We must find a plot with its networks that cut across traditional lines of counter proliferation and counterterrorism. We must stop something from happening that we have never seen happen before,'' he said.
Mowatt-Larssen said the US successes against Taliban in Afghanistan have yielded volumes of information that completely changed its view of Al-Qaida's nuclear program. ''We learned that Al-Qaida wants a weapon to use, not a weapon to sustain and build a stockpile, as most states would,'' he said.
''The nuclear threats that surfaced in June 2002 and continued through the fall of 2003 demonstrated that Al-Qaida's desire for a nuclear capability may have survived their removal from their Afghanistan safe haven,'' he said.
Observing that the Al-Qaida's nuclear intent remains clear, he said it obtained a fatwa in May 2003 that approved the use of weapons of mass destruction. Al-Qaida spokesman Suleyman Abu Ghayth declared that it is Al-Qaida's right to kill four million Americans in retaliation for Muslim deaths that Al-Qaida blames on the United States.
''Osama bin Laden said in 1998 that it was an Islamic duty to acquire weapons of mass destruction. In 2006, bin Laden reiterated his statement that Al-Qaida will return to the United States.
He said Al-Qaida has a track record of returning to finish a job they started. They failed at the World Trade Center in 1993. They came back in 2001. They canceled plans for chemical attacks in the US in 2003. ''We do not yet know when and where they intend to strike us next, but our past experience strongly suggests they are seeking an attack more spectacular than 9/11,'' he said.
''To delve a little into how they may be thinking about the nuclear option, at any given moment, Al-Qaida probably has attack plans in development. Nine-eleven was planned when the USS Cole was attacked in Yemen and when our embassies in Dar es Salaam and Tanzania were attacked in Africa,'' he said.
If Savage said that, then he's a bigger fool than I've given him credit for.
It will not happen, ever, in the United States, period, end of discussion.
Impeachment? Sure.
A quickly forced resignation? Happened before.
A popular general runs for President? Many times, and no problem.
But as long as there IS a United States, the US military will not stage a coup. If it even tried, most soldiers would disobey their orders. If successful, that fact would end the United States as we know it.
Ain't goin' to happen.
Roosting chickens per Obama’s Rev. Wright.
My wife travels for her job. She flies 5,000 mile plus a week. She was told that such items were problematic to be carrying on a plane in her baggage. Fortunately, a state trooper with a brain was able to verify to the TSA staff just what the items were, and that they were in fact what my wife stated. Once she got to Toronto they were following her like white on rice. Instead of picking up the rental car she just took a cab to the hotel. Someone followed the cab too.
Wives don't take these things too well.......
It used to be that moronic violent statements like this would be pulled at FR.
You would seriously nuke Iraq, Turkey, Malaysia, UAE, Dubia, Indonesia, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc.
Unbelievable. And nobody has bothered until now to even question your statement.
“I really wonder if they realize that if they nuke us, Islam will be erradicated and muslims the world over will be decimated. That’s not a good thing - it will be a bllodbath the likes of which the world has never seen - but it is what will happen...”
Muzzies in the United States won’t be able to leave fast enough if that happens.
“Someone followed the cab too.”
She should have gone to the local mosque...
“Not if we have a President B. Hussein Obama.”
Believe me, if the muzzies nuke us the people won’t wait for a President Obambi to wring his hands and say “Can’t we all just get along?”
The American people will take care of business themselves. I would not want to be a muzzie in America if we are nuked.
Any nuke attack on US soil should be met by the launch of one quarter of our nuclear arsenal as a warning shot that we are about to get serious.
Any nuke attack on US soil should be met by the launch of one quarter of our nuclear arsenal as a warning shot that we are about to get serious.
And bring forth Billy Beer To All.
Then he will assend to HELL to sit at the right hand of LUCIFER! ! ! !
I think it is time for another test . . . . . . .
I saw it too, but thought, well, the French president has already warned Iran that if France gets nuked, Iran will be gone. So, another such warning, from the US this time, might only seem a bit redundant?
The more urgent issue, to me, was garyhope's suggestion of a potential US military coup. I sure hope I responded appropriately to that one...
“Also to all the left.”
I’m beginning to think that the left is more dangerous and insidious than the Islamofascist/Nazis.
And they’re right here, right now among us doing their damage every single day through the media and culture.
The terrorists will most likely use a “dirty bomb” rather than a true nuke. However if Iran gets nuclear weapons groups like Hammas will probably be given one to use against Israel or the US. I see nuclear war in the Middle East as almost inevitable.
You did.
We've always had a bit of a "Nuke Mecca" crowd here, but the moderators used to minimize that. "Overthrowing the government" posts never were allowed before.
You're right, a military coup here will never happen. That doesn't mean that more and more people at this forum won't advocate it. I'm told every day that this is not a Republican forum, and I know it's not a Democrat forum, and it's clear it's evolving into something else entirely.
True, but this is different from the Cold War with the Soviets.
In this case, we have an enemy for whom the prospect of M.A.D. holds no threat. I suspect they expect to be greeted by umpteen virgins immediately after being vaporized.
At least the Soviets were sane.
Yeah, you’re right, lets let the Islamofascists kill as many of us as possible first and then maybe some “progressives” or “liberals” can talk the Islamofascists into being nice to the rest of remaining Americans, Israeli’s and Jews everywhere.
Dream on. I really don’t care if all the Muslims in the world drop dead tomorrow morning. Perhaps you could go live amidst their wonderful, peaceful, tolerant, productive culture if that would make you happy and safe.
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