Keystone Kops Alert from the New York Times, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
WASHINGTON, March 27 — Undercover Congressional investigators successfully smuggled into the United States enough radioactive material to make two dirty bombs, even after it set off alarms on radiation detectors installed at border checkpoints, a new report says.The test, conducted in December by the Government Accountability Office, demonstrated the mixed progress by the Department of Homeland Security, among other federal agencies, in trying to prevent terrorists from smuggling radioactive material into the United States.
"mixed progress"
Hmm. Anyone know a milder, more indirect substitute for "euphemism?"
That's it. I'm getting my eyes tested. Or my brain.
Dirty bombs would only cause economic damage caused by clean up expenses.
Is the material of the right type to be used for a nuclear bomb?
the following from http://www.fas.org/faspir/2002/v55n2/dirtybomb.htm
Hypothetical Example 1: Cesium (Gamma Emitter)
Two weeks ago, a lost medical gauge containing cesium was discovered in North Carolina. Imagine that the cesium in this device was exploded in Washington, DC in a bomb using ten pounds of TNT. The initial passing of the radioactive cloud would be relatively harmless, and no one would have to evacuate immediately. However, residents of an area of about five city blocks, if they remained, would have a one-in-a-thousand chance of getting cancer. A swath about one mile long covering an area of forty city blocks would exceed EPA contamination limits, with remaining residents having a one-in-ten thousand chance of getting cancer. If decontamination were not possible, these areas would have to be abandoned for decades. If the device was detonated at the National Gallery of Art, the contaminated area might include the Capitol, Supreme Court, and Library of Congress.
Certainly not good news.
This is my first comment guys. Though I have been reading your comments here on Jihad Watch for quite a while.
I just recently read Paul L. Williams book, THE AL QAEDA CONNECTION. If just half of what he documented in his book is accurate we have a more serious problem than just one or two dirty bombs or even suitcase nukes.
The Ruskies cannot account for over a hundred small nukes, that have just somehow disappeared. According to various reports Bin Laden has purchased over sixty small nukes from different sources over the last few years (That doesn’t include all of the evidence we have found indicating his keen interest in obtaining and using chemical and biological weapons against us).
If it is true that he has obtained dozens of small nukes, I believe this is a strong indication that his plan is to hit the U.S. with a massive coordinated attack in multiple cities and strategic locations over a fairly short period of time. Then they will use nuclear blackmail to try and bring other nations to their knees.
Having spent the kind of money he has to obtain these weapons and because of their somewhat limited supply, he would be very cautious about possibly losing even one in a typical hit or miss attempt at smuggling them across our borders (or via marine container). Bin Laden is looking to cut the risk of losing his nukes at a border crossing to a minimum. Obviously he would like to find an avenue of entry that would eliminate all risk. That’s why he is waiting. Time is on their side.
The strategy of an “American Hiroshima” would account for why we have not seen multiple smaller terrorist attacks since 9/11. Many smaller terrorist attacks would have the effect of keeping the American people at a high level of paranoia and the government at a high level of security at all times. Instead, even in the face of what happened on 9/11, we find that the American people and our government, both federal and state, have been lulled back into a semi-comfortable state. We’ve slacked off and lost the intense focus we had for a few months after 9/11. Our government is divided and back to politics as usual. On the home front we are totally lacking the kind of intense single mindedness required to stop the kind of determined enemy we are facing from eventually carrying out his mission. Again, time is on their side not ours. The longer he waits the more divided, lax and susceptible we become.
I am an old Vietnam veteran. I was a Ranger/Lurp. I’ve experienced first hand what it’s like to go into an enemy held area with four or five other guys, and locate a target. Usually our objective was to find an NVA base camp located in a “safe” area where they rested and prepared to attack American units. After observing them we would back off and call down hell fire on their peaceful little world. That’s what our determined enemy plans for us only on a much grander scale.
P75thMike: Welcome. And thanks for your service and your post.
The threat you discuss, or something very similar, has been a concern of many of us also. There are many diabolical ways of delivery. The enemy doesn't even need access to our ports. An airliner could be used for an air burst (or even a dirty bomb). And our "security" still hasn't recognized that potential.
I'll bet most customs agents have never even seen a genuine import license for nuclear materials such as medical and industrial isotopes.
Take a look at your local mosque. Not the one in the shopping center, but the one built with Saudi money, the big one in your area. Notice how the entrance is set back from the street, door at an angle or otherwise protected from raking fire. Look at the steel fence and remote control gate. A tactician will recognize the fortress, whereas the civilian pays no attention because of the lack of sandbags.
At the beginning of WWII the motto was "the bombers will always get through." It wasn't until the Germans has interlocking air defense networks, anti-aircraft sprouting like mushrooms after the rain, and clouds of 109's and 190's clogging the sky that the philosophy changed to "Erm, maybe the attrition rate is too high?"
Bombers in the sky are as glaringly obvious as the moon, not noted for stealth.
Fighting jihadis with rent-a-cops, lawyers, first responders (great people, critical job, but too late), and bureaucrats will not work.
The bomber will almost always get through.
Only by taking the fight to the imams, madrassas, Saudi and other backers (a start anyway), do we have a chance to roll back the modern jihad.
After reading Michelle Malkin's book, INVASION, you will certainly see what a sham our borders are. Just look at the numbers of illegals already in our country sucking off our beaurocracy and tax dollars. That's just not hispanics mind you but scum of every race. I don't want to even think how many Middle Eastern terrorists have penetrated our borders and are just waiting for the right moment to murder more Infadels. My brother was in Vietnam as a medic and befriended a guy from OSI...to this day they converse and he now works for a Government think tank. He has said the US has satellites that can detect minute radiological particles in the atmosphere..aka dirty bombs, and has detected them at the Mexico-US border so what Mike said above is a reality folks. Not just where but when is my frightful question....The breakup of the Soviet Union surely created a vacuum for weapons sales from Russian Generals and military to the terrorist sector...Just watch The War Lord with Nicholas Cage.
And yet somehow they seem to find every cigarette lighter I accidentally leave in my overnight bag.
The Ruskies cannot account for over a hundred small nukes, that have just somehow disappeared. According to various reports Bin Laden has purchased over sixty small nukes from different sources over the last few years (That doesn’t include all of the evidence we have found indicating his keen interest in obtaining and using chemical and biological weapons against us).
Posted by: P75thMike at March 28, 2006 12:52 PM
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Remember CAIR protested the federal government's surveillance of mosques and muslims for radioactive materials and nukes for years. Do you think that the feds would tell us if any nukes were found.
Pres Bush continues to refuse to inform Islam that if nukes go off in America Islam will be dust and glass.
America will be nuked then Islam will go up in mushroom clouds or we will have new management in Washington that will destroy Islam. I would not want to be a muslim in America if this happens.
Prepare, be armed be ready.
The Texican.
Freedom, the only choice at any cost.
"it's time for the Pentagon and the IDF of Israel to announce and make a study of the effectiveness & deterrence value of targeting Mecca & Medina"
Why not just target Pakistan, Iran and North Korea?
Let's see...it is almost like our government either doesn't care or hopes we get hit. What else are we to think? It is like a castle in early history which left the drawbridge down and let the nice-looking Trojan Horse inside.
Welcome P75thMike
After reading P75thMike's post, and welcome btw, I really get worried. I want to hear George tell these muslims that if anything else happens here in our country, that there will no longer be a mecca and they can bow to a sheet of glass.
And if that does ever happen, God forbid, the next in line will be the countries that sold it to them. It's beyond me as to why someone would sell a maniac a nuke.