de Borchgrave: Al-Qaida's nuclear option

United Press International (excerpt) ^ | March 21, 2006 | Arnaud de Borchgrave

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- President Bush says frequently "we are fighting them over there so they won't come over here." "Them" are transnational terrorists and "over there" is Iraq. The insurgency in Iraq has much to do with al-Qaida's plans for a WMD act of terrorism in the United States, but not the way the White House believes. Assuming the Bush administration is successful in midwifing democracy out of a near-civil war situation in Iraq, the WMD threat level will remain unchanged. High, that is.

Paradoxical though this may seem to Washington's armchair strategists, the defeat of the al-Qaida-Sunni insurgency in Iraq would actually heighten, not lessen, the danger of a 9/11 CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) attack. Defeated by the U.S. in Afghanistan and again in Iraq, al- Qaida would have to conclude that its strategy of forcing the U.S. into a humiliating, Vietnam-like retreat has failed.

~snip~

[My2Cents]

Defeated by the U.S. in Afghanistan and again in Iraq, al- Qaida would have to conclude that its strategy of forcing the U.S. into a humiliating, Vietnam-like retreat has failed.

The Democrats haven't given up on that strategy, though.

[TBP]

Bumpus.

[IncPen]

I always look forward to a feel-good post on FR to help me sleep better at night.

Jeeeeez.

[Billthedrill]

Unfortunately, "If we give up, we win" isn't a particularly sound strategy either...

[tallhappy]

I read this and found it almost incoherent. Is he trying to make or argue a point?

[marron]

So either way, we're toast.

So, I guess we should pull out of Iraq, and let them have it.

Or, how about this. We'll stay and fight. We'll divide and conquer. Whatever country they're in, we'll hunt them down and kill them. They may still get through, but not if we can help it. If we even think you're helping the terrs, we grab you and stick you in one of those Romanian jails we supposedly have, and sweat you for the names of your accomplices, and then we drop-kick you into the Black Sea.

We'll organize overthrow plots against the mullahs and the Assads until one of them works. We'll drop bunker busters on your processing facilities and force you to dig them deeper and deeper. We'll fight you until either you're done or you're gone.

Or, we could give up.

[Perdogg]

I used like de Borchgrave, but the Paleocons (Buchanan and de Borchgrave) have it in for Bush. Btw, I am not a Neocon, I am a Conservatarian.

[TomasUSMC]

"If a 10-kiloton nuclear device goes off in mid-town Manhattan on a typical work day, it could kill more than half a million people," he explains. Ten kiloton is a plausible yield "for a crude terrorist bomb," according to Nunn. And to haul that volume of explosives would require a freight train one hundred cars long. As a nuclear bomb, it could easily fit on the back of a pickup truck".

---

We see so many refuse to think of using Nukes against our enemies in this supposed WOT. What will they say when Nukes are used against US?

Give Tehran 48 hours to evacuate and annihilate it with ICBMs. Continue as needed until Islam surrenders or is totally defeated. Unless of course we want to wait for someone to Nuke US first.

ICBMs don't need ports in Dubai.

Right now we are the exterminator and Islam is the ants. We need to fumigate this 7th century religion of subjugation. If we continue with our slow time wasting kinder-gentler-compassionate-thousand points of light war fighting.... The ANTs will obtain their own fumigation equipment.

Then we will be outnumbered and out-gunned.

[Rummyfan]

Or, how about this. We'll stay and fight. We'll divide and conquer. Whatever country they're in, we'll hunt them down and kill them. They may still get through, but not if we can help it. If we even think you're helping the terrs, we grab you and stick you in one of those Romanian jails we supposedly have, and sweat you for the names of your accomplices, and then we drop-kick you into the Black Sea.

We'll organize overthrow plots against the mullahs and the Assads until one of them works. We'll drop bunker busters on your processing facilities and force you to dig them deeper and deeper. We'll fight you until either you're done or you're gone.

I like your approach! If anything we need to get tougher on the b*st*rds!

[The Great RJ]

Unfortunately it is only a matter of time before the Islamo-fascists get nuclear or chemical weapons. Construction a crude nuke with stolen enriched uranium is possible but may be beyond the terrorists themselves. However a cooperative country like Iran could supply them with one.

A more likely scenario is the so called dirty bomb, conventional explosives mixed with radio-isotopes. The ingrediants are cheap and readily available by theft or purchase. While the immediate death toll may not reach that of even a crude nuke, it would spread panic, overwhelm emergency resources and have a lasting and costly effect on the area where it was detonated....thus the ideal terrorist weapon.

I think the reaction of the US public to that kind of attack would exceed that of 9-11. There would be demands for action. Likely responses would be finally tightening US borders, the wholesale rounding up and deporting of Arab nationals and I would expect to see some vigilantee action targeting mosques and Arab assets in the US. For once Arab embassies would be burning. The perpetrators if caught would NOT be given a TV trial in federal court, but would face military tribunals and very likely relatively swift execution.

US military responses would be limited unless the terrorists could be linked to a specifc country like Iran. Should that be the case, I would see an all out bombing campaign to flatten that country.

The UN will do nothing and the Democrats and MSM would be blaming Bush for letting this happen.

[saleman]

It seems the MSM is trying to cover all the bases. If we win, Al Qaida wins, if we lose Al Qaida wins. Kinda like flipping a coin, you know, heads I win, tails you lose. Just more spin.

[muawiyah]

So, AlQaida uses its Philipino contingent, and what are we going to do?

[Hound of the Baskervilles]

"The UN will do nothing and the Democrats and MSM would be blaming Bush for letting this happen."

Your whole post made sense to me. And I would add that the terrorists would probably love to pull this off before Bush leaves office. I don't think they would get quite the sense of satisfaction if they did it while Hillary was in office.

[peyton randolph]

Note that Sam Nunn is the expert relied upon in the article. Sam Nunn is a Democrat. There is an axe to grind.