Posted on 11/09/2001 8:05:30 AM PST by Pericles
Friday November 09 11:39 AM EST
Suitcase Nukes Raise Concern
By Brian Ross ABCNEWS.com
Nuclear suitcases and "dirty" bombs.
Could the next terrifying attack on the nation fit into a suitcase?
The prospect that Osama bin Laden's terrorists may have gotten their hands on small, easily transportable "suitcase nukes" has some people in Washington now truly concerned.
There's no evidence such a device has been smuggled into the country. And even if it had, experts say it would be extremely difficult for terrorists to detonate. And a congressman who has been studying the subject for years on the subject say there's no doubt that such nuclear suitcases do exist.
"I can tell you unequivocally we built these devices similar to this and so did the Soviets during the Cold War," said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa. "The defense minister of Russia told me to my face, 'Yes, congressman, we built these devices. Just as your country built them during the Cold War.'"
In fact, the Department of Defense made a training video in the l960s, demonstrating how "small atomic demolition munitions" can be stuffed into parachutes and attached to Navy commandos, who then show how the weapons can be affixed to bridges and ships underwater.
"These devices were designed to be used to take out major infrastructure facilities," said Weldon. "We destroyed ours. Now the question is, do we know whether or not Russia has them all accounted for and do we know that they destroyed them all?"
Russia Defends Nuclear Inventory
This week in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin told 20/20's Barbara Walters none of the nuclear suitcases is missing.
"I don't really believe this is true," Putin said. "These are just legends. One can probably assume that somebody tried to sell some nuclear secrets. But there is no documentary confirmation of those developments."
But Weldon says he got a much different answer four years ago when he went to talk to with one of Russia's top generals.
The general, formerly Russia's leading defense adviser, said 86 of 132 suitcase bombs were unaccounted for.
Where were the missing nukes?
"I have no idea," Weldon recalled the general saying.
White House Sees Chilling Threat
That's one of several nuclear scenarios now causing great concern at the White House, where President Bush this week sounded the alarm about bin Laden's suspected efforts to go nuclear.
"They're seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons," Bush told leaders of formerly communist states Tuesday in Warsaw, Poland. "Given the means, our enemies would be a threat to every nation and eventually to civilization itself."
This week, the White House called in the man who tracked missing nuclear weapons for the last administration, Graham Allison, now director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Allison says the threat is very real, particularly given evidence that bin Laden and his associates have tried to obtain nuclear weapons material.
As for the nuclear suitcases, Allison's advice is to assume several dozen nuclear suitcases in Russia are missing.
"I think the difficult thing for us all to come to grips with, that, my God, would people really want to kill thousands or tens of thousands of Americans," Allison said.
The Nuclear Bazaar
But Allison and most other experts say the real concern is not the suitcase but a thriving nuclear black market, in places such as Istanbul, Turkey.
"There is a black market in weapons-grade uranium. There is a black market for weapons-grade plutonium. And there certainly is a market for radioactive material in general," said Freidrich Steinhausler of the University of Salzburg in Austria. Steinhausler is one of the world's pre-eminent experts on the illegal market in stolen nuclear materials.
"[Osama bin Laden's terrorist network] Al Qaeda is trying actively to obtain radioactive and or nuclear weapons grade material," said Steinhausler. "In terms of probability of threat, I would put the nuclear bomb rather low. I would put the radioactive dirty bomb, much, much higher."
A so-called dirty bomb, a conventional weapon laced with radioactive material, would make a scene like the attack on the World Trade Center even worse, Steinhausler says.
"Picture the bucket brigades that we saw in Ground Zero in a radioactive-contaminated area. They couldn't operate there," he said. "Picture the dust-caked office worker who survived the World Trade Center attack. He would not only be covered in dust from the detonation, he would have inhaled radioactive stuff. His body would be contaminated.
"The technology required is really high school level. You don't have even to be an engineer to fabricate that. If you can make your conventional explosive, to lace it with radioactivity is really child's play."
Over-flights by special surveillance aircraft of the bin Laden training camps in Afghanistan have not picked up the presence of any radioactive materials. But bin Laden, when asked by ABCNEWS on Christmas Eve of 1998 whether he had acquired nuclear weapons, gave a troubling answer.
"I would state that to acquire weapons in defense of Muslims is a religious duty," he said.
And given that kind of talk, American authorities say the many nuclear scenarios, including the nuclear suitcase, simply cannot be ruled out.
"Up until now we had a built-in safety barrier, where we said well if the radioactive material, it would kill or threaten the carrier, that's a method that's not going to be used," Steinhausler said. "But ever since Sept. 11 we know that's no longer valid. We now know the carrier, the agent, the terrorist himself is ready to die. And if he dies crashing an aircraft into a building or if he's ready to die carrying highly radioactive material, there's not much difference."
Read also: Turkish Police Detain Suspects Selling Uranium
and,
No doubt several will babble about how "if" this occurs America will unleash its vast nuclear arsenal in response. Sure they will. Who are they going to nuke bubba?
Afghanistan? Iraq? Iran? An old apartment in Baku?
The ex-KGB thug arrives in America with this topic on the agenda. Putin in an excellent position to tell the modern day Bismarck whatever story best suits the interests of the Russian federation. He should start with the truth for once.
Islamic entente operatives have acquired several suitcase nuclear devices during the last few years. These weapons are already in America and will be activated in an atttack designed to kill tens of thousands of Americans while doing maximum damage to the US economy.
No need to repeat once again the suspected primary targets of these bombings. The list is drawn from where "reliable" intelligence sources advise the CIA the devices reached the US and UK -- it is assumed they have not moved significant distances since their entry.
Who really knows the targets though except the cells planning to activate them?
These one to one point five kiloton blasts will remake the world and send mankind hurtling towards a modern day Dark Age. The West will be unable to retaliate because they have no one to strike.
After the dust clears and the carnage is fully realized, Osama bin Laden will go on television and tell the world he is planning to open "Allah's Suitcase" again unless the US agrees to pull out of Saudi Arabia and does. After twenty thousand are killed and a hundred thousand exposed to radiation poisoning, the American public won't give a damn about the corrupt Saudi government then and will demand US withdrawl a la Vietnam.
Game, set, and match. The war will be over and then everyone can get back to their business. The West will be humbled and a new Islamic force will swirl through the Middle East.
Should the West not back down then much of the "civilised" world will be destroyed in World War III. Interestingly, the Islamic entente is satisified with either scenario -- Dark Age or peace.
The West has no answer for this next strike. Bravo to President Bush for being honest with Americans and preparing them for these attacks in such a sensible and mature fashion.
The forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles.
Damn! Fusion. Your predictions are even grimmer than mine. I agree with you that Osama has already acquired nuclear weapons though. I expect that they acquired existing suitcase nukes or other full functional warheads that they were able to either bypass the safeguards or they transferred the nuclear material to another device.
I discussed why I thought It is folly to assume that Osama does not have nuclear capability because he has not demonstated it yet in this thread:
Why Terrorists Would Use Nuclear Weapons Last
Let's face facts boys and girls. Osama has nukes. There have been numerous reports over the last 6 or 7 years indicating "foiled" attempts by Islamic extremists to acquire nuclear weapons and you know what that means? For every "foiled" attempt there were probably 4 or more successful attempts. That is the nature of smuggling. It's just like drugs. If the demand is there.. and the money is right well...
At any rate is just wishful thinking to assume that Osama does not posess nuclear capability.
My vote would be for a new "Dark Ages" given the choices, because every time the U.S. is hit, we will do the exact opposite of what ObL expects, i.e., bombing will intensify and spread to more countries.
We are on the verge of spiralling downward. We may look back on 2001 as the apex of human civilization.
I am not an expert either. I think that it is safe to assume that Bin Laden's organazation has acquired a variety of nuclear materials and perhaps complete weapons. But more recent articles suggest that he now has the technical expertise to construst, maintain, and detonate the devices.
Wishful thinking on your part. You talk as if OBL has a nuclear arsenal at his fingertips. You honestly think Americans are going to say "back off, give ém whatever they want?" I case you haven´t noticed ALOT of American´s want BLOOD for 9.11-one nuke goes off anywhere in the Western hemispere and I predict you will see (right or wrong) American streets filled with Arab blood.
After the next attack, I would not want to be an Arab or Muslim living in America.
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