Wikileaks: Al Qaida on brink of using nuclear bomb

[Koolblue13]

The article made it sound like it might be our troops abroad that are the ones in real trouble. Even if they managed to get a weak nuke, getting it over here would be a whole new mountain of problems for them.

If our troops where they should be (here) they wouldn't be in harms way.

---------- Post added February-1st-2011 at 09:58 PM ----------

Also, does this mean wikileaks is a friend of the country as well as an enemy? lol

[Hubbs]

Hmmm. I recall reading about some recent outbreaks.

(I just went to check for some possible recent cases and nearly threw up when I saw all the pictures that came up on the Wikipedia article.)

Wait, what? It just... reappeared?

[Mickalino]

On the manufacturer...they leave unique signatures,then you hunt down the perps

So a nuke would wipe out a whole city, but it wouldn't wipe out the serial number on it's own self ?

[PeterMP]

On the manufacturer...they leave unique signatures,then you hunt down the perps

The "signature" would be worthless. It would almost certainly track back to a country that didn't actually have anything to do with the attack, other than having somebody steal it from them.

[Hubbs]

So a nuke would wipe out a whole city, but it wouldn't wipe out the serial number on it's own self ?

The radiation has a signature.

[twa]

The "signature" would be worthless. It would almost certainly track back to a country that didn't actually have anything to do with the attack, other than having somebody steal it from them.

If you play with adult toys ya are responsible for securing them.

I agree the sig from a dirty bomb is less important (if that is what you are speaking of),though not worthless

[PeterMP]

If you play with adult toys ya are responsible for securing them.

I agree the sig from a dirty bomb is less important (if that is what you are speaking of),though not worthless

So you're going to go nuclear against Russia because they lost some control over their nuclear material?

[twa]

So you're going to go nuclear against Russia because they lost some control over their nuclear material?

They would expect punishment...I never said nuclear and it certainly matters if they give notice of their failure(but still does not excuse it)

You are expected to secure and keep track or suffer the consequences

added

nuclear material is a rather broad definiton

[visionary]

Wait, what? It just... reappeared?

I don't know. I thought there were some small isolated cases of it showing up during the last few years.

Maybe I'm mixing that up with the bubonic plague.

[mistertim]

I don't know. I thought there were some small isolated cases of it showing up during the last few years.

Maybe I'm mixing that up with the bubonic plague.

That may be the case. There are only two place on earth where smallpox is kept after it was eradicated. One is the CDC in the US and the other is in Russia. Both facilities are biosafety level 4, which is the highest rating. If smallpox got out again, ANYWHERE, recently, it would be known very quickly and would have been reported.

As far as this story goes, remember that we're talking about a "dirty bomb" here. Not a nuclear weapon. This is not something that would destroy a city. It would likely be conventional explosives designed to go off and scatter radioactive material. The thing is that, generally, the radiation probably isn't going to do as much damage as the explosive itself. There would be people who would get sick from the radiation (depending on various factors) but probably not that many who would die from it. It would be more of a psychological thing most likely. As in "we can get our hands on radioactive material if we want". Everyone knows that radiation = scared.

Now, if it were a concentrated chemical agent or biological one...that could be much worse and quite a different story, depending on how they decided to disperse it.

[twa]

Smallpox has never been eradicated totally and has popped up over a very long time in small outbreaks,same for bubonic plague

[mistertim]

Smallpox has never been eradicated totally and has popped up over a very long time in small outbreaks,same for bubonic plague

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/overview/disease-facts.asp

Smallpox outbreaks have occurred from time to time for thousands of years, but the disease is now eradicated after a successful worldwide vaccination program. The last case of smallpox in the United States was in 1949. The last naturally occurring case in the world was in Somalia in 1977. After the disease was eliminated from the world, routine vaccination against smallpox among the general public was stopped because it was no longer necessary for prevention.

IIRC there was an accidental case where someone was infected at a lab around 1978. But it doesn't "pop up" anywhere anymore.

[twa]

The critical word there is naturally,I agree there has been no more reported cases,but it has not been eradicated

I got my vaccination,no worries

added

OK I'm a bit worried by the weaponized version that the vaccine is likely useless against,but what ya gonna do?

[Sticksboi05]

If they actually used a nuclear or large dirty bomb it would remove the leashes from any Wester nation that has not gotten its hands in trying to stop their efforts. There would be a massive worldwide attack on them, especially if they actually used a nuclear weapon which realistically would be a suitcase bomb of some sort.

[SnyderShrugged]

This cant possibly be true! We must refuse to believe it!

You mean to tell me that a decade of "war" on multiple fronts, trillions of dollars spent, and a mountains of debt, haven been successful in attaining it's goals?

Of course that means we should probably double down on the money thrown at it, and most likely increase aid to all the nations who harbor the people who likely have this intent.

We also probably better keep on simultaniously sending money to their sworn enemies too, just to make sure no-one gets angry enough to want to use Nukes against us.

We should be safe in another 10-20 years of doing the same thing over and over, I'm sure of it.

[Rudechain]

The question is, where would the wrath be unleashed if it wasn't evident that a specific nation was behind it ?

Well the "where" is the question. A dirty bomb would probably get screened at an airport, but there have been attempts to use commercial shipping companies such as FEDEX and UPS lately. I would compare this to a military unit setting up skirmishes to analyze our weak points.

I still look and see our ports of call being our weakest points for this type of material to enter the country. I know through conversations and reports that these shipping containers don't all get screened completely. So there is a little wiggle room there. ( but to be fair the amount imported is tremendous and any complete screening process is daunting)

BTW Mick. I was talking about your performance singing the Anthem to my wife. She wanted me to pass on some "kudos" to you.

[Burgold]

Well the "where" is the question. A dirty bomb would probably get screened at an airport, but there have been attempts to use commercial shipping companies such as FEDEX and UPS lately. I would compare this to a military unit setting up skirmishes to analyze our weak points.

I still look and see our ports of call being our weakest points for this type of material to enter the country. I know through conversations and reports that these shipping containers don't all get screened completely. So there is a little wiggle room there. ( but to be fair the amount imported is tremendous and any complete screening process is daunting)

BTW Mick. I was talking about your performance singing the Anthem to my wife. She wanted me to pass on some "kudos" to you.

I think ports are possible. I think a simple boarder crossing of Mexico is also very possible. If thousands cross every day and the "routes" are well enough known it certainly shouldn't be that hard for bad guys to from Mexico north and then once in the country to almost anywhere they would like to go.

[Rudechain]

I think ports are possible. I think a simple boarder crossing of Mexico is also very possible. If thousands cross every day and the "routes" are well enough known it certainly shouldn't be that hard for bad guys to from Mexico north and then once in the country to almost anywhere they would like to go.

Yea there are so many routes into this country and there is no way we can prevent all routes into this country. You mention Mexico, and it's a very good point, but we have another border too with Canada that is wide open.

Thinking about it more and more, your "Mexico entrance" theory is actually very sound. I could see a dirty bomb going off near a border town such as El Paso, or even San Diego.

[Burgold]

Yup. But even if you get in from Mexico or Canada that doesn't mean you have to set it off near there. You could rent a car or hop a train and hit wherever you wanted. And you're right, because we value freedom (and even if we didn't) there's no way to fully protect against this. We'd have to get very draconian and look how much people grouse about waiting an extra ten minutes in an airport line. Could you imagine if we screened every entrant going in and out of a subway system? If you had to be screened before getting your rental car?

If we believe in liberty we also believe in risk. Then again, security has always been at least partly an illusion. Still, doesn't mean that we (inclusive of government, citizenry, and guests) shouldn't remain vigillant, but if someone wants to be a nut they'll find a way. Look at Virginia Tech, Arizona, look how many people root for the Dallas Cowboys!

[Rudechain]

Well it just proves the point if you want it bad enough you will make it happen.

But your right, the freedoms we have are what makes this country so great and our populace would not take longer lines or more extensive security measures happily.

I still feel our country is that "shining city on the hill" and our principles of freedom still can be a beacon in the darkness. But this issue of our security is much larger than just securing our borders as you and everyone else well knows.

How we go about it? I am not completely sure.

[Madison Redskin]

Smallpox has never been eradicated totally and has popped up over a very long time in small outbreaks,same for bubonic plague

The infallible wikipedia says otherwise. Do you have links to any stories about outbreaks since 1980?

[China]

The infallible wikipedia says otherwise. Do you have links to any stories about outbreaks since 1980?

I would trust the CDC on this issue more thatn Wikipedia, and the CDC says there hasn't been an outbreak since 1949:

Thanks to the success of vaccination, the last natural outbreak of smallpox in the U.S. occurred in 1949. By 1972, routine smallpox vaccinations for children in the U.S. were no longer needed. In 1980, smallpox was said to be wiped out worldwide, and no cases of naturally occurring smallpox have happened since.

Link

Bubonic plague on the other hand has an incidence of 1-2 thousand cases per year:

•1,000 to 2,000 cases occur globally each year.

•Rural areas in central and southern Africa, central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the northeastern part of South America, and parts of the southwestern United States.

•Although rare, urban outbreaks of plague have been reported in Majunga, Madagascar.

Link

[Pick6]

Well between this and the economy I am moving to Canada. Just kidding. Wasn't this a bigger threat to actually happen during the cold war?

They want to scary the **** out of us, but the chance of this being a major threat I think is slim.

[Da'uud]

Anyone ever seen "Countdown to Zero"? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1572769

its an excellent docu, if you don't mind being scared

generally speaking, its quite easy to make a nuclear bomb- Oppenhiemer did all the hard work already. all you need is a cannon barrel, machinists to make the parts, and enriched uranium.

[mistertim]

Anyone ever seen "Countdown to Zero"? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1572769

its an excellent docu' date=' if you don't mind being scared

generally speaking, its quite easy to make a nuclear bomb- Oppenhiemer did all the hard work already. all you need is a cannon barrel, machinists to make the parts, and enriched uranium.[/quote']

That really isn't completely true. The general design or understanding of the design can seem somewhat simple (for a gun type nuclear weapon you're talking about) but the actual details and making it work are very difficult and require a large amount of precision, engineering, and time to prepare correctly. You can't just throw a couple of pieces of uranium in a cannon barrel and expect it to work when you try to shoot them together. Not to mention that that type of nuclear weapon needs very large amounts of enriched uranium to work (can't use plutonium).

That type of nuke is the easiest to make but a group of terrorists living in caves, etc wouldn't have much of a chance at making anything usable (unless they captured Tony Stark or something...). That sort of bomb would most likely have to be built by a country with resources, scientists, and engineering/testing facilities. Could some country make a gun type nuke and sell it to terrorists? Possibly. But those things, by their own nature, are very big and heavy. Not exactly something thats easy to move around in general, let alone smuggle into a country, drive into a city and detonate.