[MadIvan]

FYI. I have little doubt Al Qaeda would try this on either the USA or UK. I suspect we're going to find out they got the radioactive materials from Iraq.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[A. Morgan]

Oh my God!

[RoughDobermann]

Al-Qaeda has dirty bomb, UK says

Boy, you're just full of all kinds of good news, aren't ya....? :-)

[anobjectivist]

This doesn't really change anything, even if true. We've been operating under the assumption that these weapons are in the posession of terrorists.

[steveegg]

Hmm; where are the Vanguards and Ohios? I hope at least one is back in port having its Tridents fully MIRVed, with at least one somewhere in the weatern Indian Ocean.

[Cautor]

Hopefully, their bomb will detonate, shall we say prematurely, like some of the Pali jack-leg devices. That would be a shame.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Great post MadIvan.

[backhoe]

I have little doubt Al Qaeda would try this on either the USA or UK...

Ivan, I have anticipated since 9-11 a third strike, probably nuclear.

1st strike- conventional ( aircraft as flying bombs )
2nd strike- biological ( anthrax )
3rd strike- atomic ( either dirty bomb or actual nuclear detonation )

In the FWIW department, I'd include Israel in the target list, simply because they are so hated, but no Western nation is immune.

[InvisibleChurch]

the libs will blame W's tax cuts

[WorkingClassFilth]

Pardon me for being obtuse and voicing wonder at why this is news other than to add to the body of evidence that most rational people already accept. For conservatives world-wide, the Islamofascist intent has been clearly demonstrated for months, if not for years.

From my memory, I recall news stories showing that the pieces and parts have been demonstrated to be floating in this theater for years. China seems to be currently in the business of helping rogue states overcome technological hurdles in all sorts of spheres including nuclear. Europe has been selling seriously compromising technology to Saddam for a good while now, and Clinton, helped out to no small degree as well. Specific, controled, scientific technology for nuclear weapons development has been shown to have been ordered by Saddam. The Iraqi know-how and documentation has been clearly demonstrated. After the Gulf War, US experts upgraded their estimates of where Saddam was in the Nuke timetable to less than three years out - that was ten years ago. Episodes like the Pakistani terrorist that was caught by the Israelis last summer with a radiological bomb have already occured. Hundreds of kilograms of enriched, weapons grade plutonium have been missing from Soviet stocks and a smuggling dry-run was exposed last fall. A key Soviet defector maintains that perhaps as many as two dozen "back-pack" nuclear devices are floating about unaccounted for and some of them, according to this agent, are cached in North America for use by Spetznaz and other sleeper agents.

I guess I can see that more information may be needed to awaken some, but I fear that a preoccupation with finding the "smoking gun" will only yield a mushroom cloud in an American city.

[jlogajan]

"On the other hand, the threat of a dirty bomb or radiological bomb, is much more plausible," he added.

It's more plausible in that it would be far easier to obtain and build. But it is still a stupid idea for a weapon. If you have dirty radioactive materials, you just go spread them around by hand. Using a bomb is stupid because it isn't particularly targetted, wasting you material and calling attention to the event.

[ArneFufkin]

Ivan, you and your mates buckle down, ok?

The vermin will try to split the UK from the US through some murder-intended event in the next 10 days.

Keep an eye on those peaceful Sons of Allah, promise?

[Oldeconomybuyer]

bump

[TBall]

Right before things get really bad, I figure I will see a picture of chelsea and her guardians holding hands as they step aboard the plane to make their final exit.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

I'd say that if they didn't AT LEAST have a few radiological bombs, then we have grossly overestimated their competence and effectiveness as a terrorist threat. Good grief, any idiot can make a dirty bomb. Buy enough smoke detectors and you can scrape together enough radioactive material to set the geiger counters off. Or you could pay off a few cash-poor foreign students to steal some material from their college labs. Easiest thing in the world. Getting the EXPLOSIVE is a lot harder than getting the radioactive material, and we all know how easy it is for terrorists to get explosives.

Now a fission device, that is truly a challenge, and probably far beyond the capabilities of any terrorist group WITHOUT SUBSTANTIAL STATE ASSISTANCE.

[Cindy]

An informative discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding an IDF.il Spokesperson's article dated January 19, 2003: "AL-QAEDA IS A DANGER TO THE FREE WORLD" (Discussion, Photos posted on FR on January 20, 2003)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/826013/posts

[null and void]

Caption should read: "OK, NOW we're sure Saddam HAD one weapon of mass distruction..."

[Cindy]

BBC NEWS: "AL-QAEDA 'WAS DEVELOPING DIRTY BOMB'"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2711645.stm

[prairiebreeze]

*Saddam might have that sort of material. Hmmm. - Ivan*

Supplied by France perhaps? would they be THAT stupid???

[Centurion2000]

FYI. I have little doubt Al Qaeda would try this on either the USA or UK. I suspect we're going to find out they got the radioactive materials from Iraq.

Or possibly North Korea.