[mvonfr]

For those of us not hooked into the umbilicle cord of the Ministry of Truth, please explain how even China doesn't have the missile firepower to reach any further then California, yet Iraq somehow will develop what only the United States, Russia, Britain and France have developed, aka global range ICBM's?

Missile is not the only way. Anybody who has nukes can easily ship them by sea to any port in the US. China is less likely to do so, since they are concerned about a retaliation. Iran or Iraq are crazies, they can do anything. And once they have nukes, someone half-crazy, like China, may decide for a terrorist nuke use as well, now that it can be blamed on an unknown party, like Iran or Iraq. Clear enough?

[Loopy]

. Anybody who has nukes can easily ship them by sea to any port in the US

That's not what Poohbah and a bunch of others on FR say. They claim that its very difficult to do this because of the ongoing maintenance requirements of these systems. If it were so easy, then why was FR all abuzz with flaming when people started to get worried about OBL having a nuke.

[WALLACE212]

Not disagreeing necessarily, but nukes are harder to move than most think. Uranium & Plutonium are both gamma-emitters, they are present in the triggers of ALL nuclear weapons. And we have something like 9 spy satellites looking for nothing but gamma-emitters, bright flashes, and rocket launch signatures where they don't belong. If the US detected gamma on a ship or aircraft inbound for CONUS, they would be getting a visit from a bunch of guys dressed in black, or a SAM in the arse.

Not that a few megatons burst in the upper atmosphere wouldn't blind those same satellites.....