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Is Chicago in the crosshairs? (Of Nuclear 9/11)
Chicago Tribune ^ | August 16, 2005 | Graham Allison

Posted on 08/17/2005 1:18:55 AM PDT by RWR8189

Many Americans consider the idea of a nuclear bomb exploding in an American city to be Hollywood science fiction, but FBI warnings that terrorists may be planning an attack on Chicago are hitting close to home and are eerily familiar.

One month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, a CIA agent code-named "Dragonfire" reported that Al Qaeda had acquired a small nuclear bomb from the former Soviet arsenal and had brought it to New York City.

Vice President Dick Cheney and hundreds of other government officials evacuated Washington for a then-undisclosed location. President Bush dispatched nuclear experts to search for signs of radiation.

Mercifully, Dragonfire's report was a false alarm.

The truth, however, is that the U.S. government had no grounds to dismiss the warning. While not likely, it is possible that Al Qaeda is hiding nuclear bombs in one or several American cities today. So who can say that the trucks the FBI warned about might not contain weapons of mass destruction?

Smuggling a nuclear weapon into Chicago is not as improbable as it seems.

The highly enriched uranium needed to build a simple nuclear weapon is smaller than a football. It could be smuggled through American borders and into the metropolis the way illegal drugs come into the city every day: in uninspected cargo containers delivered by ships and trains, contraband smuggled over the Canadian-American border, or innumerable other ways.

Why might Al Qaeda aspire to such a difficult, deadly assault? Bin Laden has challenged the Al Qaeda movement to trump Sept. 11. That calls for attacks more spectacular than hijacking jumbo jets to crash into trophy buildings. The ultimate terrorist spectacle would be an American city enveloped by a nuclear mushroom cloud.

In May 2003 Osama bin Laden

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; US: Illinois; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 911; chicago; nuclear911; wtc
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1 posted on 08/17/2005 1:18:56 AM PDT by RWR8189
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To: RWR8189
Lets scare our self to death shall we?

If they had one, they would have USED IT by now.

I personally doubt the whole suitcase nuke story, because nobody has ever seen one, and if as many were floating around as has been aledged, someone would have tried one out by now.

2 posted on 08/17/2005 1:26:39 AM PDT by konaice
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To: RWR8189

What gets me is Osama got all these Nukes but N. Korea And Iran are spending billions and alot of publicity to make their own few.... Yeah Right.


3 posted on 08/17/2005 1:27:40 AM PDT by mowowie
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Radioactive Illinois Tourist ping....


4 posted on 08/17/2005 1:37:00 AM PDT by Watery Tart (Cindy al-She'ehan shows her true colors....but does she realize Islamofacists would kill her, too?)
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To: RWR8189

THEY are everywhere...keep your eyes peeled...God Bless America.


5 posted on 08/17/2005 1:37:15 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: konaice

Al Qaeda can take years to plan an operation. I wouldn't write the possibility off just yet...


6 posted on 08/17/2005 1:38:43 AM PDT by WestVirginiaRebel (Carnac: A siren, a baby and a liberal. Answer: Name three things that whine.)
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To: WestVirginiaRebel
Al Qaeda can take years to plan an operation. I wouldn't write the possibility off just yet... 50,000 US troops (sitting ducks) in Baghdad, Southern border a total sieve, get a cheap car and drive anywhere in the country.

This doesn't need that much planning. If he had it they would have used it.

7 posted on 08/17/2005 1:44:29 AM PDT by konaice
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To: RWR8189

And if nuclear weapons are ignited by terrorists here, how will we then feel about expelling thousands of Jews from their homes in Israel to appease terrorists there for the "road map?"


8 posted on 08/17/2005 1:50:42 AM PDT by familyop ("Let us try" sounds better, don't you think? "Essayons" is so...Latin.)
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To: RWR8189

nah...
not Chicago.

It'll likely be on a shipping container, or privately held vessel- probably destined for West coast.

LA or San Diego for ease of entry, economics and body count, but they've also looked at Houston and New Orleans.
Something about energy/refinery, cripple the economy...

We've seen their notes, but when you deal with ghouls who fill notebooks and hard drives with death plans, it's hard to dermine which is real or which is a daydream or "homework assignment".

When the balloon goes up, we'll know.
For now we just have to trust our guys and cross our fingers...


9 posted on 08/17/2005 1:58:52 AM PDT by Will_Zurmacht
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To: All
ON THE NET...

INTERNET-HAGANAH.US (August 14, 2005 - TimesOnline.co.uk): "LEAKED US INTELLIGENCE DOCUMENT WARNING OF TERRORIST ATTACKS ON LONDON AND AMERICA USING FUEL TANKERS" (August 16, 2005)

WASHINGTON TIMES.com (UPI): "INTELLIGENCE MEMO WARNS OF NEW ATTACKS" (August 14, 2005)

WTOP.com (AP): Los Angeles - "FBI WARNS POLICE OF POSSIBLE TERROR ATTACK" (Updated August 11, 2005)

10 posted on 08/17/2005 2:01:43 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: All

ON THE NET...

http://www.truthusa.com/911news.html


11 posted on 08/17/2005 2:03:09 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: Cindy

Atlanta


12 posted on 08/17/2005 2:07:28 AM PDT by Siobhan ("Whenever you come to save Rome, make all the noise you want." -- Pius XII)
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To: Siobhan

Sorry, must be tired...what about Atlanta?


13 posted on 08/17/2005 2:08:32 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: RWR8189

Do me a favor. If they nuke me up here nuke every towel top between Israel to China and then round up the local ones and, well, do the sorts of things that were I to suggest doing would probably violate the no calls to violence provisions of freerepublic.


14 posted on 08/17/2005 2:08:55 AM PDT by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
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To: konaice

I wish I could share your enthusiasm that if they had one they would have used it by now....truth is no one knows and it is well within the realm of possibility...and Chicago would be a target that any military planner would certainly entertain because of location and accessability setting on the lake.. Rule # 1 in a war....never underestimate your enemy!!


15 posted on 08/17/2005 2:16:58 AM PDT by RVN Airplane Driver (Thanks America for not slapping us in the face again.)
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To: Siobhan; All

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1438985/posts
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"Attack on trucker spotlights troubled community [Baghdad in Atlanta]"
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 7/8/05 | ERNIE SUGGS

Posted on 07/08/2005 6:58:07 AM PDT by madprof98

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "It could have been a scene out of Baghdad.

At 2 a.m. Tuesday, a tanker carrying 7,500 gallons of diesel fuel was ambushed by a group of kids who pelted it with rocks and fireworks.

Police say a bottle rocket blew up inside the cab, injuring the driver and causing him to lose control of the massive tanker. It rolled over on the side of the road.

Investigators still are trying to determine exactly what happened next. But friends of the driver say he told them he prayed for help as some of the youths broke out the windows of the cab, hauled him out and beat him. Others danced on his truck.

The "terrorist attack," as it has been described by some, was not in Baghdad, but on a small stretch of road in northwest Atlanta, known by most as "Bankhead."

Officially, the name of the street is now Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, named after a famed civil rights lawyer. But the stigma of crime and poverty clings to the area, which is also the home of one of Atlanta's largest public housing complexes, Bankhead Courts.

On Thursday, Atlanta police arrested Anthony Boyd Jr. and charged him with reckless conduct for his part in the attack on driver Rafael Diaz. Police say Boyd is suspected of throwing the bottle rocket into the cab of Diaz's truck. The rocket exploded as it hit his face, injuring him severely. He is in intensive care at Grady Memorial Hospital, having undergone hours-long brain surgery after the attack.

Boyd was released on a $1,000 bond Thursday evening. Atlanta Police Department spokeswoman Sylvia Abernathy said investigators were awaiting a signature on an arrest warrant for another teenager in connection with the incident."


16 posted on 08/17/2005 2:17:12 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: Cindy

Thanks, Cindy. You're a terrific resource.


17 posted on 08/17/2005 2:19:19 AM PDT by Siobhan ("Whenever you come to save Rome, make all the noise you want." -- Pius XII)
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To: Siobhan

You're very welcome.


18 posted on 08/17/2005 2:24:25 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: Cindy
About a month ago my 15 yr old Grandson and I spent the day in the DFW area being train bum's. What I saw was shocking...we as a country have developed an element of a couple of generations of welfare blacks who appear to be basically worthless as members of society...addicted to welfare and poverty they are under educated and won't work....and to feed their drug habits they participate in criminal activities. Yes old lady Roosevelt and then the Johnson's and the Democratic party over the years did a fine job of destroying the black family's in America....and as a result you have enclaves like "Bankhead" in Atlanta...who have no moral compass. It's such a shame....but as everyone knows if you feed a stray animal...they soon forget how to hunt.
19 posted on 08/17/2005 2:34:01 AM PDT by RVN Airplane Driver (Thanks America for not slapping us in the face again.)
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To: konaice

Hijack airplanes and crash into buildings deliberately? No way, never happen. What about the pilot and co pilot, they'd stop 'em. The passengers would stop 'em. The jackers would be killed too if they did it. It'll never happen. If they could do it, they would have done it by now. Not gonna worry abo...

boom


20 posted on 08/17/2005 3:16:06 AM PDT by milemark (Proud to be an infidel.)
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