[The_Reader_David]

That was the most disturbing part of the VP debate to me, too, though as much because Ryan didn’t call Biden on the nonsense of “they don’t have a weapon to put it in” and “we’d know if they had a weapon”. Really? We really know they don’t already have a bomb casing with an artillery tube down the middle designed to drive one almost-critical mass of enriched uranium into another on the model of Little Boy? Really? Iran is a big place and a uranium gun-bomb, unlike a plutonium bomb, is a really simple device. So simple that the original test of the design was carried out over Hiroshima, rather than in the New Mexico or Nevada desert.

The Iranians are plainly planning on making a uranium bomb, not a plutonium bomb, and knowing their ideology, the test is likely to be carried out over Tel Aviv or in a container ship in the Port of Los Angeles or the East River.

[CrazyIvan]

“That was the most disturbing part of the VP debate to me, too, though as much because Ryan didn’t call Biden on the nonsense of “they don’t have a weapon to put it in” and “we’d know if they had a weapon”. Really? We really know they don’t already have a bomb casing with an artillery tube down the middle designed to drive one almost-critical mass of enriched uranium into another on the model of Little Boy? Really? Iran is a big place and a uranium gun-bomb, unlike a plutonium bomb, is a really simple device. So simple that the original test of the design was carried out over Hiroshima, rather than in the New Mexico or Nevada desert.

The Iranians are plainly planning on making a uranium bomb, not a plutonium bomb, and knowing their ideology, the test is likely to be carried out over Tel Aviv or in a container ship in the Port of Los Angeles or the East River.”

I thought Ryan's reply to this was week. I was thinking he
should have asked if we were supposed to watch a sworn
enemy build, load, cock, and point a gun at our head before
we did anything to stop them.

[lacrew]

I agree completely. This fantasy that Iran needs some sophisticated ‘weapon’ should have been shot down immediately.

Most people have no idea how different weapons work...and they may include Ryan.

If Iran has Uranium, and Iran has centrifuges, nothing stops them. This is 1940’s technology...not that exotic.

One of the Israeli wargame scenarios is two container ships, in two Israeli ports....a simultaneous attack that could kill 10% of their population in an instant. If we believe the Iranians have successfully enriched uranium, the rest would be about as difficult as a middle school science fair project. No ICBM’s or other exotic weaponry needed.

[PapaBear3625]

The Iranians are plainly planning on making a uranium bomb, not a plutonium bomb, and knowing their ideology, the test is likely to be carried out over Tel Aviv or in a container ship in the Port of Los Angeles or the East River.

If it's in a ship near a major US city, count on it having a cobalt casing to maximize fallout, and thus destroy property values within a large radius.

[libstripper]

Congrats. We both said the same thing in different ways about U-235 bombs vs. plutonium bombs and how simple U-235 bombs are to build. Ryan should have picked up on that point.

[Average Al]

How much trouble is it to find a suitcase to put a dirty bomb in?

[workerbee]

#11 — absolutely.