Posted on 07/24/2017 8:30:41 AM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
The Islamic State came dangerously close to obtaining a radioactive dirty bomb, in fact the ingredients were readily available to the group for more than three years, but an apparent lack of knowledge or know-how prevented a disaster.
ISIS gained a military treasure trove after its seizure of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in June 2014. Everything from tanks to guns were spoils of war, many of them American-made. But the most valuable prize the group unwittingly obtained were two supplies of cobalt-60, a highly radioactive substance used in cancer treatment which is also perfect for a dirty bomb, according to a report by Joby Warrick of The Washington Post published on Saturday.
ISIS apparently stumbled upon the radioactive substance possibly without even know what they had. It was locked away in a storage room on a college campus contained in heavy shielding when ISIS took over the area. When Iraq Security Forces retook the campus earlier this year, they found the cobalt-60 still in storage, providing a major relief to security officials and experts who had been tracking its location.
“We are very relieved that these two, older albeit still dangerous, cobalt 60 sources were not found and used by Daesh [ISIS]. They were recovered intact recently,” said the Institute for Science and International Security, a think tank which compiled a dossier on the substance’s whereabouts beginning in 2015, in a report published on Saturday.
The Institute provided its final report to the U.S. and other “friendly governments,” and ultimately decided not to publish the report at the time out of concern that ISIS could use it.
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A dirty bomb is essentially a terrorist’s ideal weapon. It uses a traditional explosive to spread radioactive material across a given area, in an attempt to incite panic and chaos. It is not necessarily difficult to obtain the ingredients for a dirty bomb; highly radioactive material is used in a multitude of civilian applications. A terrorist would need only to gain a suitable amount of material, combine it with a traditional explosive, and unleash it on a target area. While the death toll from the detonation of such a device would likely be low, it is the resulting fear among the targeted population that worries officials.
Thankfully, ISIS either was not able or aware of the cobalt-60 in Mosul.
“They are not that smart,” a health ministry official told WaPo.
It is possible that ISIS was aware of the caches of cobalt-60, but did not have the know-how to remove it from its casing without exposing its own forces to the deadly radiation. It is equally possible they simply had no idea what they had. The Institute also speculated that “courageous hospital and university staff” may have worked to keep the cobalt-60 a secret from the terror group.
The cobalt-60 is not the first time ISIS has had a chance at a weapon of mass destruction. U.S. forces conducted air strikes against two chemical weapons factories in Mosul in March 2016. Officials had been concerned that the group was possibly stolen using chemistry equipment from Mosul University, though it is unclear if that equipment was being used in the weapons factories. Despite the strikes, ISIS is known to have used chlorine and mustard gas against its enemies in Iraq and Syria.
ISIS’s failure to use the cobalt-60 was fortunate, but there are lessons to be learned.
“This case should lead to reinvigorated efforts to inventory and adequately protect radioactive sources throughout the world. However, as this case highlights, improving physical protection may not be enough,” said the Institute’s report. “It is also important for the United States and its allies to accelerate programs to identify, consolidate, and remove dangerous radioactive sources, particularly in regions of tension or where terrorists are active.”
A ‘dirty bomb’ is probably less dangerous than it sounds. The first good rain would fix a lot of it.
“.......two supplies of cobalt-60, a highly radioactive substance used in cancer treatment which is also perfect for a dirty bomb, according to a report by Joby Warrick of The Washington Post published on Saturday.”......
I’m surprised Warrick didn’t give them the recipe too.
Aren’t people glad that the Washington Post is willing to fill in the holes in the education of Jihadis? Now they know to target that substance, which is probably much easier to get rather than uranium or plutonium. Nice job you media traitors!
They won’t be making that mistake again, thanks to these bozos in the press.
Handling Cobalt 60 would be tricky even though some jihadists could be convinced to do so knowing they would die as a result. Might use up a lot of heavenly virgins just to assemble the device
"Everything from tanks to guns were spoils of war, many of them American-made. But the most valuable prize the group unwittingly obtained were two supplies of cobalt-60, a highly radioactive substance used in cancer treatment which is also perfect for a dirty bomb,..."
Neither are we, if we left all that stuff over there. Absolutely sickening!
About 15 yrs. ago one of these Cobalt 60 sources wound up at a Mexican dump after a clinic there closed and the locals did not know what they were dealing with.
It got reprocessed with scrap into highly radioactive steel. The whole mess was discovered when some café tables made with that steel were shipped to the cafeteria at Los Alamos, where they triggered all the alarms.
Don’t underestimate the capability of a dirty bomb. There is a commercial going around right now for Brita filters (I think) where people are taste testing tap water and the spokesman tells them that there is a safe level of lead in the water. Understandably, the tasters don’t want any part of it. Imagine if a dirty bomb was set off in Napa Valley, CA and kills no one and does little damage. Would you buy wine with a safe amount of radiation, or would you go for an import? How about Fresno raisins or Idaho potatos?
What are the chances?
Co-60, as a solid metal pellet or capsule of Co-59 made radioactive in a neutron flux, would behave just like a nail or pellet or screw in the bomb package.
Sucks if it happens to get embedded in you, but it would be UN-likely that it would break up and disperse and spread radioactive material over a wide area.
Give me a survey meter and a high dollar gubmint contract and i’ll find that exploded Cobalt within an, beat up and disfigured as it would be.
One of the biggest problems with “dirty bombs” is they tend to kill everyone delivering it to the target.
One of the reasons the USA never used U233 as the daughter effects of U232 (also produced) are nasty gamma emitters.
Just loading the bomb could kill the bomb handlers.
It’s scary, and the emotional reaction is natural. Easy to say that low levels of radiation aren’t nearly as dangerous as the conservative standard analysis predicts - but . . .
Years ago I saw a "Brian Ross" story on television about how to sneak Uranium into the United States. I said at the time that this story was collossally stupid because it showed potential terrorists some workable methods to sneak real dangerous substances into the nation.
Then Brian Ross does a story showing how easy it is to blow up a train carrying deadly toxic chemicals, and potentially kill 100,000 people.
In both cases, Brian Ross was highlighting a completely insolvable problem that only served to put the public in greater jeopardy. He was making the public less safe because of his spreading this knowledge.
I have been disgusted with Brian Ross every since.
Oh, and for those of you who didn't know it, Brian Ross is the guy that rigged the Chevrolet Truck gas tanks to explode in that fake story for which CBS (I think) got sued by General Motors.
Yeah, Brian Ross is a real creep, and he should not be employed in any sort of "news" organization.
I am talking about reality, not imaginary issues.
The ACTUAL results would be less than the horrors imagined.
Thanks for providing the background on that creep “reporter”.
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