Posted on 11/10/2001 10:07:57 AM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
Al-Qaeda nukes may have reached US shores
UNGA session possible terror target
Naveed Miraj
Updated on 11/10/2001 11:33:53 AM
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and American investigators converge that Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network may have successfully transported several nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons of mass destruction to the United States, The Frontier Post learnt Friday.
Already on high alert, United States security officials are having sleepless nights that Al Qaeda can strike in New York again on the occasion of United Nations General Assembly session.
Investigators from Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) and American FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) are jointly probing into the possibilities of Al Qaeda possessing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
They have reached a conclusion that at least two briefcase nuclear weapons may have reached the US shores, sources close to these investigators revealed to this scribe.
The investigators have been able to identify at least one briefcase weapon acquired by Al Qaeda from Central Asian rogue groups.
The weapon identified is small 8-kilogram device that carries at least 2 kg of fissionable plutonium and uranium.
The device, of Russian make, carries a serial number 9999 and manufacturing date October 1988.
The design of the device is simple.
The radioactive materials consist of Uranium and Plutonium both kept in separate compartments.
At the top of the two compartments is placed the charging mechanism.
The charging mechanism can be activated through a timer or even through a cell phone command.
Besides nuclear devices, a chemical and a biological weapon have also been identified to be in the hands of Al Qaeda activists.
They are said to be in possession of at least 70 capsules, also of Russian origin, containing a very lethal biological agent.
Broken in a crowded place, this capsule can cause deaths on a huge scale.
It melts human body meat to the bone.
Another chemical agent in the hands of Al Qaeda operators is called Vipera Lebentina Venema.
A derivative of snake poisons, this venom developed in USSR attacks through skin.
Most probable way of using this agent is through mail as with Anthrax.
US security agencies are already on high alert and realise that Al Qaeda can strike in New York again on the occasion of UN General Assembly.
Analysis of the recent statements released by Osama bin Laden carried out by US agencies has shown that the terrorist network can pick up an important occasion like the UN General Assembly session to retaliate against US strikes on Afghanistan.
Heard expert on radio, he believes they will strike again but in their typical way of bomb blast to buildings etc.
I've been reading and posting from that paper. No, it's not reliable. The paper is interesting for precisely the reason that it prints these scare stories like US tabloids print stories about UFOs. Not to mention the Frontier Post is based in Peshawar, a border town that has been sympathetic to the Taliban.
That and the panic that will ensue.
Paper Says Bin Laden Claims He Has Nuclear Weapons
Source: Reuters via The New York Times
Published: November 9, 2001
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's respected Dawn newspaper said on Saturday Osama bin Laden, in an interview inside Afghanistan, said he had nuclear and chemical weapons and might use them to respond to U.S. attacks.
``I wish to declare that if America used chemical or nuclear weapons against us, then we may retort with chemical and nuclear weapons. We have the weapons as deterrent,'' the newspaper quoted bin Laden as telling a well-known Pakistani journalist in Afghanistan on Wednesday night.
Did you notice they didn't quote any experts regarding how serious these "reports" they've gathered are? No. Nobody in the article says how credible the new variety of bio-chem stuff is or how likely it is that nuclear material has already come over and been made into a bomb.
Personally, I like reading these stories just to see how loony things can get in the Pak press (and the Frontier Post in particular), but be careful with taking them too seriously. At the very least be cautious with "news" from this paper.
Also, the figures cited for the nuke are bogus--all-up weight only 17.6 pounds? Yeah, right...
That's the problem. They are not 'hot'. Plutonium is an Alpha emitter and you can block the radiation quite literally with a piece of cardboard. You can hold plutonium in a gloved hand and not be exposed. You just don't want to inhale or digest the stuff. Highly radioactive material is typically a fision by-product (stuff that results from a fission reaction) like cobalt that requires heavy shielding.
Well, you sound pretty DARN close to an expert to me! :)
Then your understanding is wrong. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki was a fission device using plutonium. Plutonium is also used in triggers for fusion devices, but that isn't the only use. Nevertheless, this report has so many holes it can't be taken seriously.
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