AP quotes from Graham Allison’s article:

A report by the United Nation’s Terrorism Prevention Branch, leaked to the press four months before 9/11, indicated that 130 terrorist groups were capable of developing a homemade atomic bomb if they obtained highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium left over from the Cold War.

Give them the HEU, and my local high school science club with access to the shop class could, in theory, make one, too. So what?

IMHO, it is MUCH, MUCH easier to make a fertilizer/fuel oil bomb, like the one they used in 1993 in the 1st attempt at the WTC, using local materials than a nuke. The “home made” bombs postulated would NOT be the advanced multi-megaton weapons, but low order explosives much smaller than the ones we used in WWII.

I think that Allison’s scenario of millions of dead Americans in a broken city as a result of a terrorist-detonated nuke is unlikely. Thousands — the order of magnitude of the 9/11 — certainly.

Since it was asked, the policy for retaliation for a WMD (including chemical and biological as well as nuclear) strike against America is stated in National Security Presidential Directive 17.

The ability to retaliate ought not to be in doubt as presidential succession and the National Command Authority have been a settled issue for decades, and our nuclear strike forces, which are sufficiently dispersed or at sea, could not be neutralized by anybody on this planet — much less al Qaeda with a suitcase bomb, and would be available to strike back, unimpeded.

A better question would be: Would we have the political will to do so? Given the reaction to 9/11, the public anger would, I strongly believe, demand immediate retaliation.

Anybody standing in the way of it would be flattened.

Efforts to prevent such an event need to be improved, that much is certain.

Ask yourself what happened to the Civil Defense Programs we had during the cold war. I realize that some of you are too young to have lived through that period where we had drop drills in the classroom ect.

We took Civil defense seriously.

Do you realize that our wonderful politicians have abandoned all of the bomb shelters for the public while building underground shelters for themselves?

If we are hit with a Nuke, it is going to be everyone for themselves except for the politicians who will be safe in the under ground shelters.

We used to have a huge network of Civil Defense Bomb shelters and we, as a country planned for survival after a nuclear bomb.

Sadly, if we are hit, it will be pandemonium. If you thought, New Orleans was bad….

Something to think about-IMHO

ScottyDog on September 20, 2006 at 11:54 AM

Good thoughts. We seem to have morphed from the United States of America to Anything for a Buck-land. Shameful.

Sadly only 100,000 or more US dead will wake the strutting somnambulists at the NY Times, the majority of the Democratic (and some in the Repulbican) Party, the 9/11 Truther cranks, the multi-culturalistically-inclined businesspeople who work in favor of open borders (for their own closed, fatter wallets) and lax laws, the “Christian” dialogistas who will vacuously absolve all of our mortal enemies’ depredations and terroristic acts in the idiotic name of “understanding”, fueled by their overwhelming post-colonial, Blame America First guilt.

This delusional dream state will continue to endanger us all, and to invite a jihadist nuke.
And, by their pursuit of self-loathing/self-abasing imbecility, these underminers of our self-defense will paradoxically cure themselves, radiologically.

Nothing less will eradicate this homegrown tumor.
(A shame the rest of us have to suffer the holocaustic results of their [unconsciously?] seditious, suicidal lunacy.)

profitsbeard on September 19, 2006 at 7:07 PM

strutting somnambulists

Well that’s just silly.

If there is ever a re-make of Dr Strangelove, well, you would be perfect in that Slim Pickins role!!

Now we are being invaded by illegals and pretend it isn’t happening.

At Columbine the students cowered under desks. I wonder what the outcome would have been had they jumped the shooter at the door of the school room. Instead the teacher told them to hide under desks that cannot stop bullets. The teacher tried her best, but she didn’t have a clue, poor thing.

Students are taught to not act independently, but there are no clear instructions for them to act as a group.

There is so little preparation that everyone assume we will simply loot to survive. That was a reflex in New Orleans. Lots of greed, yes, but also an understanding that looting was the solution.

Nature abhors a vacumn.

We took Civil defense seriously.

Do you realize that our wonderful politicians have abandoned all of the bomb shelters for the public while building underground shelters for themselves?

If we are hit with a Nuke, it is going to be everyone for themselves except for the politicians who will be safe in the under ground shelters.

We used to have a huge network of Civil Defense Bomb shelters and we, as a country planned for survival after a nuclear bomb.

Sadly, if we are hit, it will be pandemonium. If you thought, New Orleans was bad….

Something to think about-IMHO

The true agenda is revealed near the end of the report.

“Having called for war against Iraq on false premises, the Bush administration has paradoxically increased the WMD threat.”

It’s a pre-emptive strike against George Bush.

RedWinged Blackbird on September 19, 2006 at 4:19 PM

I think Blackbird was referring to the agenda of The Bulltein of Atomic Scientists, not the agenda of the terrorists against Bush.

The Bulletin list of contributors incude Al Gore, Daniel Ellsberg, Zbigniew Brzezinski,
Alan Cranston

Cranston, a supporter of world government, became president of the World Federalist Society in 1948[1]. He successfully pushed for his state’s legislature to pass the 1949 World Federalist California Resolution, calling on Congress to amend the Constitution to allow U.S. participation in a federal world government wikpedia

William Hartung author of How Much Are You Making on the War Daddy?

Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic

According to the author, these bases are proof that the “United States prefers to deal with other nations through the use or threat of force rather than negotiations, commerce, or cultural interaction.” – amazon book review

Bruce Cumings
He was one of the founding members of the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars

Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars
Statement of Purpose
BCAS Founding Statement

We first came together in opposition to the brutal aggression of the United States in Vietnam and to the complicity or silence of our profession with regard to that policy

Early contributors included Aldous Huxley

After World War II Huxley applied for United States citizenship, but was denied because he would not say he would take up arms to defend America wikpedia

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists may have different reasons to predict a nuke attack, but common sense tells me the world population is huge and mobile, filled with nutcases with buckets of cash and a bigger bucketload of hatred, jealousy, and anger enough to enjoy toasting us. It is unreasonable to think they will not do it.

In planning for this future, could we please pass some tort reform? After 911 we the people had to give every survivor a million dollars to keep them from suing every remaining business in America and ending our economy. We can’t afford many more payouts. At least reduce it to $25,000, and a couple bus tickets. Even at a million dollars, some held out for more.

If there is a nuclear attack on this country, the President (whoever he is at the time) will have to respond in kind.
We wouldn’t stand for anything less.

Pelosi would be sure to inspect every single container coming into this country! It’s the only way!!!!

/sarc

This delusional dream state will continue to endanger us all, and to invite a jihadist nuke.
And, by their pursuit of self-loathing/self-abasing imbecility, these underminers of our self-defense will paradoxically cure themselves, radiologically.

Nothing less will eradicate this homegrown tumor.
(A shame the rest of us have to suffer the holocaustic results of their [unconsciously?] seditious, suicidal lunacy.)

heh…

I don’t blame anyone living in NY today for keeping their heads down. Due to the political wrangling over this war I’m pretty certain that many missteps are taking place. As for the fact that liberals outnumber conservatives in these cities, I’m forced to again point out how natural selection works. Those who are so foolish as to allow a fire to burn in their house, as they sit by and watch it from the comfort of their couches, eventually die. IMHO, playing politics with this life or death issue will cause the deaths of many innocents. It would be nice if those who have stifled our efforts to protect the nation were the ones at risk, but life never works out that neatly.

The one answer for those who want to keep their families safe is to move them away from these cities. I did, and you can too. The decision is yours, but don’t wait too long. We know the time is near.

It might be too late, but yeah, securing the borders would be a good start at preventing, or at least greatly hindering, this possibility.

Iran has had 18 years, the last 5 working very hard at it. They have new technologies at their disposal, state-of-the art computers, help from North Korea and probably Russia and probably thousands working on the project.

I think it is more likely than not Bush and Rice let Iran go nuclear on their watch.

It’s time to kill these muslim cockroaches, or be killed by them.

The webmaster’s blog-within-a-blog. Continuously updated and bumped, newest items at the top. Please click here to learn more about The Phoenix Project, then click here to see a selection of Old War Dogs merchandise. All sales proceeds go to support…

Establishment of a Global Alliance Against Nuclear Terrorism could help us overcome the psychological barriers to sustained, focused action. Faced with the possibility of an American Hiroshima, many are paralyzed by a combination of denial and fatalism. Either it hasn’t happened, so it’s not going to happen; or, if it is going to happen, there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Both propositions are wrong. The countdown to a nuclear 9/11 can be stopped, but only by a combination of imagination, a clear agenda for action, and fierce determination to pursue it.

IOW, stop them now.

Great timing, too. But since this is a new CBS drama series, I wonder if any of the plot will reveal an overtly concious effort to blame the president (ie. Bush that is) of instigating the enemy into dropping a nuclear bomb on Kansas City.

When I say liberals I think of Blue States/Cites as being targets – DC, MD, NY, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Diego, Seattle, Portland.

Texas is Red but Austin is Blue.

ar_basin on September 19, 2006 at 4:38 PM

Another real patriot. How nice for you that to date all targets have been in blue states and cities. Think of all those liberals wiped out on 9/11. It’s an ill wind I guess.

This is a huge problem, Russia especially. There is some ex Senator who has been beating the drum on this, can’t recall who–Kerry (the other one) maybe?