My own reactions to the threats, nuclear weapons scare, and general panic surrounding recent developments are ambivalent. I mean, it seems that telling the world you have the capability to blow up the US is foolish unless you want to use the threat as a deterrent. And Omar doesn't. He's not offering terms. Otherwise, you're just exposing your hand. And why would he bother with other weapons if he really had nukes? I mean, I'd wager that everything might have been much easier if they'd used the nukes first. Saddam Hussein spent DECADES and billions trying to build a bomb. And he may still not have succeeded. I can't help but believe he would have "tried the Russians" as well. But still... there is that frightening discrepancy in the Russian nuclear arsenal census. Of course, the threat is empty, even if they DO have nukes. Bring down America? HA! During the heighth of the arms race, the CIA estimated that the USSR could destroy perhaps 60% of the United States' productive capacity and 40% of its population (don't quote me on those #'s, but they're close). The US was capable of destroying perhaps 66% of Russia's productive capacity and around 35% of its population (approximate #'s again, memory fails...). That was with THOUSANDS of warheads more powerful than anything Osama has. Bring down the US? He might bring down half of Washington. But I don't think there's any chance of the US collapsing, even if our government were damaged like that. So, what's going to happen? Omar made his prediction, now make yours.
While I agree that the threat to "destroy the US" is just bluster and propaganda, I think it's highly likely that Al Qaeda does have a couple of nukes, and that they've probably been turned into dirty nukes. As for why they'd bother with other weapons if they had nukes, why not? They probably only have a couple of nukes, which would be good for exactly a couple of attacks. Their intention is not just to produce a single mass-casualty incident, but to inflict both physical and psychological damage over en extended period via attrition warfare. They will use every weapon they have, and not all at once. They are purposefully spreading this s*it out over time to freak us out and screw with our nerves. As for Iraq, they were a single month away from having a working nuke at the start of the Gulf War. Since Saddam's had over two years to reconstitute his WMD programs without inspectors interfering, the general consensus is that he now likely has several nukes. One more reason to take him out. These people couldn't "take down the US" if they had a hundred nukes. But they could sure as hell kill alot of American civilians (and make no mistake, they'd strike at US civilians before anyone else) with even a couple of poor-man's nukes, and that is unacceptable.
I think it is possible for these a$$holes to have a nuke and if they have the balls to use it, I swear to the whole world I will do everything in my power as a US citizen to make sure that the people responsible for their treacherous acts, die a slow, gruesome and painful death. C'mon Omar! You want to take out thousands of people? How about me an you settle this one on one you fuggin pu$$y!!! Stop hiding in caves and show yourself b****!!!
RocketsPimp -- i'm with you on this one. i'm soooo sick of hearing "we'll fight you to the death...and we'll bring down america." come on!! everytime we show up these jackasses run and hide. they talk real tough while hiding in caves. yeah, they're the model of "true believers!" i predict......PAIN!! i like to quote clubber lang as much as possible, particularly during wartime.
If he nukes DC you will have lost 0.2 % of the BBS population and you will have lost 98% of the BBS production
