I believe Saint Louis University to be a reliable source, and has published a .pdf file titled “Radiological Terrorism fact sheet”.

“This is Mendel in Tel Aviv. We’re officially declaring war on you!”

“How big is your army?” the president asked.
“There’s me, my cousin Moishe, and our pinochle team!”

“I have a million in my army,” said the president.
“I’ll call back!” said Mendel.

The next day he called. “The war’s still on! We have now a bulldozer, Goldblatt’s tractor. Plus the canasta team!”

“I have 16,000 tanks, and my army is now two million.”

“Oy gevalt!”, said Mendel. “I’ll call back.”

He phoned the next day. “We’re calling off the war.”

“Why?”, asked the president.

“Well,” said Mendel, “we’ve all had a little chat, and there’s no way we can feed two million prisoners.”

Interesting, too about the car bombing of the lead Hariri investigator right before the Hague tribunal starts.

It won’t shock or offend me if the Israelis took this guy out.

So what are the effects of a ‘dirty bomb’? Blast effect, shrapnel, flash burns. What steps do you take when assisting the injured?
1. Check for breathing.
2. Control the bleeding.
3. Treat for shock
4. Stablize and transport.

So at the hospital, they are treating the injured and discover that the debris being removed from the injured is radioactive, and they add that to the list of complicating factors that determine the best treatment.

Discovering the presence of radioactivity at the scene complicates the clean up, nothing more.

So this whole radiation bogeyman is something to scare little children and the poorly educated.

Am I comming accross as too harsh, to inconsiderate? I can’t tell, not being a caring person, and all.

Iran, hezblowhard, syria, making threats? Pffft!

No one was injured, no one was contaminated.

Dunno about the ‘just spread it’ part. Seems like an exploding ‘terror’ weapon sure makes a much bigger headline then a ‘where did this come from’ headline.

Limerick on February 18, 2008 at 2:21 PM

That would depend on how it was played. It is the newsies job to sensationalize everything. Otherwise it wouldn’t be news.

Which is why I don’t put much trust in news headlines.

DMeNTe on February 18, 2008 at 2:59 PM

Well then, they didn’t pay attention to what happened to Saddam when he said he had sh%t and really didn’t : )

Besides, if it’s a ruse, Mossad would doubtless already know by now.

Interesting, that observation. I wonder, what makes you think that? I mean, unless you mean that they actually greased the guy, which they probably did. But let’s just say it was a ruse, and I’m not saying that.

I’m not so sure that would be possible. I’d be surprised if the Israeli’s didn’t use radiation monitors all over the country and along the border.

The idea of a ‘dirty bomb’ is bogus from the beginning. If you want to contaminate an area with radioactive material, there is no need to explode anything.

I think your right. Did I read somewhere that if you “explode” the material, it actually makes it less effective?

There is an extremely strong peace movement in Israel that has a good chunk of the population convinced that everything will be fine and dandy as long as they give up any land that is considered disputed and apologize for existing.

OMG! Did all the dimacrats move to Israel?

No, I was thinking more along the lines of a dirty bomb.

Allahpundit on February 18, 2008 at 11:46 AM

The idea of a ‘dirty bomb’ is bogus from the beginning. If you want to contaminate an area with radioactive material, there is no need to explode anything. Just spread the radioactive material around. No one would even know you had done so, until people start getting sick.

If you are trying to make the case that a ‘dirty bomb’ is a terror weapon, the only case you are making is the news media’s general ignorance about anything scientific. Compounded by the general publics poor grounding in high school physics.

What would be more effective? The discovery that people injured in the latest car bomb attack were contaminated with radioactive material, or an increasing number of people from the same area exhibiting symptoms of radiation poisoning for no apparent reason, and the sudden panicked evacuation?

Iran and hezblowhard are ‘messin with your head, dude’.

Jaibones on February 18, 2008 at 1:50 PM

I’m not so certain that Israel would respond to a dirty bomb with a nuclear bomb.

They have done everything possible (including suffering greater casualties on their own side) to limit civilian casualties in every conflict that they’ve had with their neighbors.

I don’t see them saying, “Wait! This bomb had radioactive material in it? Well, the gloves are coming off now.”

There is an extremely strong peace movement in Israel that has a good chunk of the population convinced that everything will be fine and dandy as long as they give up any land that is considered disputed and apologize for existing.

In all honesty, the half-assed effort they did in Lebanon after their soldiers were seized is the most resounding effort I can see them making in their current political/social climate.

truth is Israel is ready to strike and has plans in place. Its the US that is holding the country back from a preemptive attack against Iran

offroadaz on February 18, 2008 at 1:49 PM

I think so too. I have never understood the USA when it comes to Israel. I’m glad we support them, dont get me wrong, but we are always discouraging them from protecting their own people! How many Israelis have to die from these evil people, before the US says, go for it, we’ve got your back?

The Soviets were kooks. They also didn’t look upon themselves as martyrs for their cause. I think those make a big difference when comparing the two situations.

I don’t think even the the mullahs are that stupid. This deterrent kept a generation of Soviet kooks under control.

As for a Imawhackjobinadinnerjacket, I am also increasingly convinced that he doesn’t even control his own bowel movements.