Posted on 03/28/2006 7:55:56 AM PST by EastCobbRules
It's about the worst nightmare Americans could ever have.
Imagine Osama bin Laden with nuclear weapons and the wherewithal to get them inside the U.S.
According to Paul Williams, author of "The Dunces of Doomsday: 10 Blunders that Gave Rise to Radical Islam," it's time to stop imagining and start preparing for the grim reality of nuclear terrorism.
"The beginning of the end of Planet Earth" occurred 15 years ago, according to Williams. Much of the evidence of the impending holocaust is strewn around the globe, with al-Qaida and its allies at the helm.
Williams, a former FBI consultant and author of "The Al Qaeda Connection" and "Osama's Revenge," uncovers a "booming nuclear black market" in which bin Laden has been strategically complicit.
"The belief that bin Laden simply obtained these weapons to keep in his cave without concern for maintenance and upgrading has its roots in the erroneous and prejudicial notion that he is a backward camel jockey lacking knowledge of sophisticated weaponry, rather than a highly trained engineer and one of the most gifted military tacticians in contemporary history," Williams writes.
With its origins in the Soviet Union's voluntary withdrawal of its 22,000 nuclear weapons in the early 1990s, the nuke market has grown into an international trade, characterized by a dizzying and disconcerting bevy of untracked, lost and stolen weapons. In the first three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, some Russians desperate for survival amid resultant unemployment and widespread malnutrition turned to the temptations of the looming nukes for financial support and sustenance.
"The temptation would be too great for an ascetic 'saint' to resist, especially when a kilo of chromium-50 was selling for $25,000, cesium-157 for $1 million, and lithium for $10 million," says Williams.
Williams outlines that more than 10 years ago, German officials documented more than 700 attempted sales of nuclear weapons and materials. Major prospective buyers included Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and al-Qaida. These tracked sales do not take into account the many devices that seeped into the underground unchecked.
Consider these facts:
Bin Laden has been amassing a nuclear arsenal since 1992. His purchases have included at least 20 suitcase bombs from Chechen rebels, 48 suitcase nukes from the Russian Mafia, more than 20 kilos of uranium-236, several bars of enriched uranium, and 20 nuclear warheads. He's worked with scientists and technicians to create hard-to-detect suitcase and backpack bombs. These purchases have been supported by bin Laden's massive global opium enterprise.
Even a small amount of radioactive material has devastating effects. "A single gram of cesium, if inhaled or ingested, is a bone sucker," writes Williams. It causes hair loss, diarrhea, bleeding, delirium, high fever, purple fingernails, imminent death, various cancers and long-term environmental contamination. Now consider that bin Laden has amassed "enough radioactive material to plant a dirty nuke in every major American city."
The U.S. government played down radioactive deals that became common knowledge in the international community.
For years, For years, Iraqi al-Qaida operatives have been at the helm in combing the world for "loose nukes" that have flowed to Russia, Germany, Sudan, Libya, Pakistan and, yes, Iran, too. "The al-Qaida nuclear arsenal is not a matter of speculation but of substantiated fact ... the situation is dire," says Williams
Bravo Sierra
Here we go again....with a story that is about 5 years old....and baloney too. Every 6 months it seems to crop up to try to scare once again..sheesh!
Lol.
Once upon a time I would have totally discounted this as crazy talk. If I had read that someone could hijack passenger planes and fly them into buildings in New York City and Washington, DC, I would have thought it was just as crazy.
Now, I sadly realize, it's in the realm of possibility.
Riiiiight. He would have used them long ago.
untrue. If the muz detonate a nuclear weapon here it would mean the death of every muz in this country, and probably everybody that looks like one too. They know this.
This is just one of the glaring errors in this piece.
"His purchases have included at least 20 suitcase bombs from Chechen rebels, 48 suitcase nukes from the Russian Mafia, more than 20 kilos of uranium-236, several bars of enriched uranium, and 20 nuclear warheads."
What happened to the Patridge in a Pear Tree?
If lithium is this expensive, that would explain why the author has gone off his recommended dosage.
The thing about that, I think, is because the Chechens probably thought that had the thing gone off it would have given the Russians a go ahead to use tactical nukes on Chechnya. On top of that the device still had its impact even if it did not go off, since by telling the media where it was it meant that everyone knew. Thus they would be getting the psychological impact they wanted, and at the same time not giving the Russians an excuse to irradiate Chechnya.
Anyways, with that said the whole 'Al Queda's nukes' thing doesn't make sense. For one a radiological device is far different from nukes, and the article talks of Al Queda having a total of 68 suitcase nukes, a flurry of radioactive material, and 20 nuclear warheads. That seems more like a fantasy. Although I think there are some who would want bin Laden to have such weapons so that they could write about it.
I'd say this guy is trying to sell his book.
I am still of the opinion that OBL is dead as are most of what was the AQ leadership in 2001. Those not dead are by in large in jail.
Well, as long as we don't listen in on his phone calls.....
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the Russian Mafia sold his henchment a few boxes of pinball parts salted with medical radioactive waste and then gone home to laugh into their vodka.
Old news. Nothing to see here. Time to move on.
Obviously the smart investor will get out of high-tech and into suitcases, unless the rag-heads have already cornered the market.
More than likely al-quaida does have nukes in some form or other. As to when they are going to use them is another question. Remember he calculated when he was going to destroy the Twin Towers so why should he hurry up and use his nukes. Being that the border with mexico is so open and it is known that plenty of OTM's have croosed the border the thought here is to get everyone in place and then set them off. They have found evidence that moslums have come over from mexico and are in various cities around the country. So it is a matter of not where(major cities) but when. al-quaida only needs to get it right once while we have to be right 100% of the time.
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