Keep Those Donations Coming!
Sponsoring FReepers leapfrog0202 and another person will contribute $10
Each time a new monthly donor signs up!
Get more bang for your buck
Sign up today
Save Lazamataz
Posted on 05/04/2011 10:15:46 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Recently-released WikiLeaks documents show that detained al Qaeda members have predicted nuclear reprisals if Osama bin Laden were captured or killed.
The classified Defense Department files, obtained from detainee interviews at the Guantanamo Bay prison, were released by the document-sharing Web site a week before the raid in Pakistan that resulted in bin Laden's demise. (See list of related CNET stories.)
Abu al-Libi, al Qaeda's third in command and "operational chief" before he was captured in 2005, reportedly said the nuclear device was "located in Europe" and would be used in retaliation over bin Laden's death, according to the leaked files. The phrase "nuclear hellstorm" appears in the Defense Department's dossier on Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, who allegedly confessed to masterminding the September 11 attacks and will be tried by a military tribunal.
Another detainee, Sharif al-Masri, reportedly said that if al Qaeda was able to move the bomb to the United States, they would be able to find operatives of Europeans of Arab or Asian descent to use it. He said, the records show, if bin Laden "were to be captured or killed, the bomb would be detonated in the US" and that al-Libi "would be one of those able to give the order."
The claims--which could, of course, be false--add more detail to suspicions in Washington about possible reprisals following Sunday's special forces raid in Pakistan. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security committee, told Fox Business yesterday that "we have to assume that al Qaeda is going to try to retaliate as quickly, as lethally as possible."
John Brennan, deputy national security advisor, said this morning that the administration is taking "measures to guard against any type of reaction, adverse reaction to the news of bin Laden's death," including deciding whether to release photographs and video. Brennan made those remarks on CBS News' Early Show (CNET is a sister news organization).
Speculation about al Qaeda possessing nuclear weapons is hardly new. Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in 2007 that "Osama bin Laden has already talked about wanting an American Hiroshima" and that neither obtaining the material nor building a bomb is very difficult. A 2006 Rand Corporation study (PDF) says al Qaeda "was trying to develop the capability for at least a low-level attack involving the dispersal of radioactive material"--in other words, a less challenging dirty bomb that would spread radioactive material but not yield a nuclear explosion.
Other secret Guantanamo documents published by WikiLeaks starting on April 24 show:
• Mohommad Zahir (PDF), reportedly a major weapons dealer associated with the Taliban, was arrested "on suspicion of possessing weapons including Stinger missiles and uranium," which were "intended for use in a nuclear device."
• Muhammad Binyam (PDF), a member of al Qaeda, reportedly suggested "constructing a nuclear dirty bomb for an attack against the U.S.," and said he was willing "to become a martyr."
• Abd Al Rahim Abdul Raza Janko (PDF), who acknowledged receiving training at al Qaeda's al Faruq Training Camp, reportedly described plans "including nuclear attacks and suicide attacks around the world," although interrogators viewed his reliability as suspect and questioned whether he would have had access to that information.
If they had nukes they would have used them by now....hell, these people pop like a bag of popcorn on high heat....surly they would have found an excuse to light one off by now.
But I sure hope Obama has Pakistani nukes under better surveillance than he had Osama's rabbit hutch!
My money says, if there is one, it’s in Rome.
Maybe near the Vatican.
There are traitors in the US government who KNEW
exactly where bin Ladin was “hiding”.
They KNEW and did nothing.
They also know exactly where some of these terrorists are,
and what weapons they have. Hasan was with Obama from
his inauguration and what has followed has been coverup.
If the US has to build "shower rooms" and hog farms all over the Middle East, there will be a Reckoning. The technology is Out There.
Idle thought. Can you sell a million fattened hogs to the starving nations of Africa, regardless of diet, if we tell them it's genetically altered goat or mutton?
If our president had ANY balls at all, the message back would be “Nuclear reprisals will bring MUCH BIGGER nuclear reprisals”, and it wouldn’t take wikileaks to get the message out.
Nah. That's Berlusconi's zipper.
GWB might have told them if they nuke us Mecca disappears. Of course with the current CNC all bets are off. It took boy blunder 16 hrs. to decide to kill osama, good Lord that was a gimme!
if that happens, its OBama’s fault obviously, since there are consequences for killing Osama
remember its not the fault of the tuscon killer that killed 18 ppl, but Palin who incite him, sent code message with her violent rhetorical
Its not the fault of muslim killers who killed several ppl at an UN complex, but the fault of the priest who burn the Quran who incited the violence
So if theres revenge killing, its Obama’s fault
If you were in KSM’s position could you resist the urge to feed your captors some freakin’ scary B.S. to carry out your own little personal PsyOp?
Youre underestimating the enemy. The people running AQ are nothing like the ‘useful idiots’ rioting in the streets.
TSA coming to a mall near you!
What a country!
An attack on the Space Shuttle?
Yes, I think they have or can obtain a nuke and/or biochem weapon(s). Iran and its surrogate (AQ) are driven by a single item, hate of the W particularly the US. Anything that will humiliate, debilitate and/or destroy the US or its close allies is the object. How thats accomplished is immaterial. Nukes and biochem weapons are primarily attractive for the shock value and secondarily for mass destruction. To the AQ leadership OBL is just a convenient reason nothing more.
We’re going to be speculating over just how long anybody on our side knew where OBL was hiding.
One thing I know about their side is that they’d never risk an operation over timing. Obama wanted to sleep on it, and jeopardize the op. That’s a luxury we apparently have.
AQ doesn’t. If they have a nuke in place, they’ll use it. If the plan is to have multiple nukes in place, for the purpose of wrecking the US economy, then they’ll wait until they have what they need in place and they’ll light them up one minute later.
I miss the show Rubicon. One scenario they had just before it got cancelled was sinking a ship in the Gulf of Mexico bottling up the shipping lanes into Houston. 25% of the nations energy supply comes in that way.
To me that seemed like the most workable plan, and so much easier and more effective than a nuke at wrecking the economy.
Show the pictures!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.