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
--right up there with Che Guevara--
While nuclear terrorism is something we should be concerned about, the fact is (as other posters have stated), if al Qaeda had nukes, they would already have used them because it is clear that they are losing in both theatres, Afghanistan and Iraq, despite their continued bloodthirsty attacks.
If they had a nuke, they would have already detonated it in either New York or Washington in hopes of immediately halting all U.S. combat operations where they are losing semi-well trained terrorists, supplies and the battle for hearts and minds more and more every day.
No, the only thing al Qaeda has to sell (beyond terrorist attacks) is FEAR, just like Joe Farah at World Nut Daily - Joe has been hawking his grand little "G2 Intel Bulletin" for $99 bucks for over a year now, and in case anyone forgot, he was pushing that whole "American Hiroshima" nonsense LAST year, claiming that bin Laden was going to nuke us on (let's see now):
a.) Memorial Day
b.) 4th of July
c.) Anniversary of Hiroshima
d.) Anniversary of Nagasaki
e.) Any annual recurring U.S. holiday
Get the picture? If Joe had any REAL intel of any value, he would have made it public because it would have catapulted him and his news site over every other news site online, and that would have translated into lots and lots money for Joe.
Which is why he will be selling his $99 G2 Intel Bulletin even the night before terrorists detonate a nuke somewhere on American soil (God forbid, but that is the mentality of people like Joe who engage in rampant profiteering from the WOT).
Do we not have sophisticated instruments that could detect these amounts of Uranium if stored in one place?
Or, would not the storage facility, if sophisticated enough to prevent our detection, be detectable itself?
I assume that storage is in very limited locales, otherwise security would be far more difficult.
But could they still contain radioactive materials that could still be used as a weapon?
I know this isn't diplomatic, but IF I were in charge, I would let every muslim country and every terrorist group know that if ANY nuclear device is ever used by the muzzies against the US, Mecca and every other "holy" mosque would become a vast radioactive glass plain instantly!
AQ isn't exactly in a position to be patient.
They would have used it by now if they had it.
This is just WND trying to get people to sign up for Joe Farah's stupid newsletter.
A single gram of cesium, if inhaled or ingested, is a bone sucker," writes Williams. It causes hair loss
Ok who has been putting cesium in my coffee.
This couldn't possibly happen with George W. Bush in the White House.
Create a dirty bomb, perhaps. Create a nuclear detonation, no.
Dirty bombs are nasty, but except for the immediate conventional blast effects, the resulting casualties would be minimal. It WOULD however create panic, and cleaning up the resulting radiation would be horribly expensive.
These terrorists are in no hurry. They have a long-range view of world conquest, visions of the return of the Mahdi, and are quite capable of waiting many years until they feel the time is perfect for a strike. It could be due to a moment of our weakness when an attack would be the most devastating, or to coincide with some Islamic prophecy, superstition or political ambition.
Al Qaeda is doing everything they can to whittle us down with the IED attacks, public opinion wars, financial wars, oil extortion, feints and deceptions. They may not yet have all the pieces in place for a major strike. They may just be waiting for a moonlit, double-eclipse Ramadan or for President AhMaybeBeMad to finish preparations to deal with Israel.
They waited 8 years between the WTC attacks. They definitely are strategic. World Islamic domination is the game. I wouldn't be too quick to say just because they haven't nuked anyone yet, they therefore don't have anything. With enough money and a legion of fanatics eager to die, you can get pretty much anything you want.
Which is why they used planes to tacke down the WTC and attack the Pentagon. WND Books = Nutz!
This story is BS.
My thoughts... if the Chechens had 20+ suitcase nukes, would they sell them to OBL or use them on Moscow?
Fearmongering anyone?
(my usual response to such posts)
But our labs were - and no one appears to care whether or not Al Qaeda was involved in nuclear espionage.
I should say, "were pilfered." Sorry.
This is total crap. If Bin Laden had a Nuke or Nukes he would have used them.
"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."
And to boot told them that it was the fabled "red mercury".
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