Now, I don't know if Al Qaida actually has nuclear weapons or not. However, it' seems eminently possible that they have aquired nuclear weapons or material. And I don't doubt their willingness to use them. This is deadly serious stuff. Imagine the world wide consequences of a nuclear blast in D.C. or New York. This was, and is, the dire threat to U.S. and global security. This is why the Bush Administration's obsession with Iraq is so incredibly misguided and dangerous. We need our security apparatus firing on all cylinders, analysing real evidence, and acting on it, not chasing jackelopes in Iraq. Al-Qaida's No. 2 Claims to Have Nukes Mar 21, 9:45 PM (ET) (AP) Ayman al-Zawahri speaks to the press in this 1998 photo taken in Khost, Afghanistan and made... Full Image SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Osama bin Laden's terror network claims to have bought ready-made nuclear weapons on the black market in central Asia, the biographer of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader was quoted as telling an Australian television station. In an interview scheduled to be televised on Monday, Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir said Ayman al-Zawahri claimed that "smart briefcase bombs" were available on the black market. It was not clear when the interview between Mir and al-Zawahri took place. U.S. intelligence agencies have long believed that al-Qaida attempted to acquire a nuclear device on the black market, but say there is no evidence it was successful. In the interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp. television, parts of which were released Sunday, Mir recalled telling al-Zawahri it was difficult to believe that al-Qaida had nuclear weapons when the terror network didn't have the equipment to maintain or use them. "Dr Ayman al-Zawahri laughed and he said 'Mr. Mir, if you have $30 million, go to the black market in central Asia, contact any disgruntled Soviet scientist, and a lot of ... smart briefcase bombs are available,'" Mir said in the interview. "They have contacted us, we sent our people to Moscow, to Tashkent, to other central Asian states and they negotiated, and we purchased some suitcase bombs," Mir quoted al-Zawahri as saying. Al-Qaida has never hidden its interest in acquiring nuclear weapons. The U.S. federal indictment of bin Laden charges that as far back as 1992 he "and others known and unknown, made efforts to obtain the components of nuclear weapons." Bin Laden, in a November 2001 interview with a Pakistani journalist, boasted having hidden such components "as a deterrent." And in 1998, a Russian nuclear weapons design expert was investigated for allegedly working with bin Laden's Taliban allies. It was revealed last month that Pakistan's top nuclear scientist had sold sensitive equipment and nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, fueling fears the information could have also fallen into the hands of terrorists. Earlier, Mir told Australian media that al-Zawahri also claimed to have visited Australia to recruit militants and collect funds. "In those days, in early 1996, he was on a mission to organize his network all over the world," Mir was quoted as saying. "He told me he stopped for a while in Darwin (in northern Australia), he was ... looking for help and collecting funds." Australia's Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the government could not rule out the possibility that al-Zawahri visited Australia in the 1990s under a different name. "Under his own name or any known alias he hasn't traveled to Australia," Ruddock told reporters Saturday. "That doesn't mean to say that he may not have come under some other false documentation, or some other alias that's not known to us." Mir describe al-Zawahri as "the real brain behind Osama bin Laden." "He is the real strategist, Osama bin Laden is only a front man," Mir was quoted as saying during the interview. "I think he is more dangerous than bin Laden." Al-Zawahri - an Egyptian surgeon - is believed to be hiding in the rugged region around the Pakistan-Afghan border where U.S. and Pakistani troops are conducting a major operation against Taliban and al-Qaida forces. He is said to have played a leading role in orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
More on the story from today's New York Daily News Al Qaeda: We bought nuke cases By TRACY CONNOR DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, March 22nd, 2004 Osama Bin Laden's top henchman bragged to a journalist that Al Qaeda operatives bought "briefcase" nukes on the black market, it was reported yesterday. Ayman Al-Zawahiri laughed as he described how easy it was for the terror network to obtain a portable nuclear device - a nightmare scenario for the United States. "If you have $30 million, go to the black market in central Asia, contact any disgruntled Soviet scientist, and a lot of smart briefcase bombs are available," he was quoted as saying. "They have contacted us. We sent our people to Moscow, to Tashkent, to other central Asian states, and they negotiated. And we purchased some suitcase bombs." Al-Zawahiri made the chilling boast in an undated interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, who claims to be Bin Laden's authorized biographer. Mir recounted the Egyptian's comments in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. set to air today. U.S. intelligence officials say they are well aware of Bin Laden's lust for nukes and his efforts to buy them on the black market. But they point out there's no concrete evidence that he has succeeded. Although Bin Laden has claimed in the past that Al Qaeda has apocalyptic weapons, Al-Zawahiri is the first to offer any specifics. He did not say when the devices were allegedly bought or how many Al Qaeda has, but if his boast of a ready-made bomb is true it would be a frightful development. A report released by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year detailed how difficult it is to stop a terrorist who builds or buys a bomb from smuggling it onto U.S. soil. In a 1999 interview, Bin Laden described his twisted version of the Manhattan Project as "a religious duty." Two years later, just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Bin Laden told Mir he had nuclear arms and was ready to use them against the U.S. "I wish to declare that if America used chemical or nuclear weapons against us, then we may reply with chemical and nuclear weapons," he said then. "We have the weapons as a deterrent."
Well, I remember reading these articles as well when this info originally came out. He didn't only say we will use them as a deterrent. He said they will use them also if they are about to lose the war(or be wiped out). I take it your exhibiting sarcasm instead of taking a terrorist at his words.
If they had 'em, I can't believe they wouldn't have used them by now... when all our soldiers were packed together waiting to invade Iraq would have been an ideal time. Doesn't mean they didn't recently acquire them or will in the future. Pakistan and North Korea should have been the focus over the last few years, not Iraq.
seriously...i know my theology plays into this big time...so take it for what it's worth...but humanity is really one big cluster$#%% isn't it? i mean....seriously. we have people starving...we have AIDS ravishing a continent...we have families that can't stay together...we have orphans...we have every kind of atrocity we can deal with....and we layer it with our own stupid bullcrap. freaking nuclear weapons in suitcases. brilliant. sorry.
"Americans are at least as threatened by rogue states and terrorists armed with Pakistani nuclear blueprints and bomb fuel as they are by fugitives holed up in South Waziristan," the New York Times said in an editorial last weekend.
This would NOT be a nuclear blast like you might think of it. These suitcase nukes have an effective range of about 2 blocks. Even then, most of those affected will not die. They will be very ill. I'm not trivializing this, as it would be horrific, but we cannot overstate the threat either.
That's a very good point, Ref. It would be in the range of a 3-mile-island type of event, which could make a lot of people really ill depending on where it was set off, but we're not talking warhead. Also, you've got to wonder if whatever they purchased would work anyway. It's not like they could test it when the deal went down. "No no no no. This is the real thing, not just a briefcase full of little plastic vials and wires that Sergey put together in our garage. Vould I lie to you?"
can't do both? the admin has followed a reasoned multi-lateral policy on NK, and pakistan has collaborated on the destruction of DR. Khan's network. are you suggesting we should have invaded them instead? the administration, for all the carping from various quarters, actually is reasonably sophisticated in it's foreign policy. it uses the stick when it has too (iraq, afghanistan), and uses the carrot when appropriate (pakistan, libya). NK is somewhere in between.
They spent years trying to get them. Iraq and every other country has been desperately trying to get a hold of them ... and then all of sudden for 30 mil you can get them at no prob? Sounds like BS to me. Another terror threat ... and were scared ****less right now because they "might" have suitcase bombs. Words come dirt cheap.
I read somewhere that Saddam said that invading Kuwait before he had a nuclear weapon was his biggest mistake. Obviously he would probably still be in Kuwait and maybe Suadi Arabia if he had. However, if Nukes were easily available you'd think he would have bought a few. After all, if you had one for sale wouldn't you seek out Saddam? He's got the money.
For what it's worth, both the Chechens and the Palestinians have claimed in the past to have these suitcase bombs, and the claims have turned out to be almost definately false. Also, these weapons would require quite a bit of maintance from when they were built in the 70's and there is some question whether the skills for working on these specialized weapons would be available. BTW, the expected yield would be 1 kiloton. The yield of the bomb that hit Hiroshima was 13 kilotons, for comparison.
