RADIATION BOMB: Crude but Deadly Device Is Most Feared Nuke
NEW YORK (AP) - While chances are remote that a terrorist might obtain one of the suitcase-sized nuclear bombs produced by the United States or former Soviet Union, analysts worry that a crude but deadly device might be fashioned from stolen nuclear material and a few sticks of dynamite. Such a radiological bomb wouldn’t yield a nuclear explosion but rather a plume of toxic radiation. “Had the terrorists at the World Trade Center used a radiological dispersal device, most parts of lower Manhattan would have been rendered uninhabitable,” said Tariq Rauf, director of the nonproliferation program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies . . .
Analysts who’ve examined the threat describe three separate scenarios. In the first, a so-called “suitcase nuke,” probably from the ex-Soviet Union, could be sold to terrorists, who would seek to smuggle it into the United States, or within range of an U.S. overseas interest.
A second threat scenario involves a terrorist group building its own nuclear bomb using smuggled nuclear material. The International Atomic Energy Agency has documented 18 cases of weapons-grade nuclear smuggling since 1993, among hundreds of cases of trafficking in radioactive materials. None of the cases involved enough for a bomb.
The radiological bomb is a much simpler matter.Depending on its potency, a contamination-spewing radiological bomb could kill dozens, hundreds, possibly thousands. Its toxic plume could render a square mileor more uninhabitable for a decade or longer. It would cause a huge cleanup and demoralize a city, perhaps a nation. “To a terrorist who is trying to create widespread panic, this option is more appealing,” Rauf said. “You can see the white powder of anthrax, but not radiation. Itcan be carried by wind, by the water. In the public mind, a radiological device is more terrorizing.”
—Jiminy Goddam CRICKETS. What next, Grave Robbers from Outer Space? Good thing I don’t give a damn whether I live or die, but I feel bad for the rest of you . . .
See, this is why there are two mottos that guide my life.
One, “Live each day as if it were your last.”
Therefore, I’m going to empty my bank account, max out my credit cards, get really trashed, have wild unprotected sex with anything that moves (and some things that don’t), and shoot my boss.
Two, “Never live your life by a motto.”
So I’ll probably just sit around instead.
Uninhabitable meaning that being in the area will approximately coincide with your time of death? Or uninhabitable in the sense that the radiation will exceed the acceptable background radiation level established by OSHA; wherein unsafe is any level of background radiation likely to reduce average life expectancy of those in the area by 4 hours?
Maybe the toxic, radioactive cloud with drift into the accursed laboratories that are producing the anthrax, kill the bacteria, and sterilize the spores.
Signed,
Podkayne,
Finder of silver linings.
Reasonable rates. Expenses extra. Call today!
I’m living in the center of the bull’s eye, with nowhere to run. So what am I going to do tonight?
Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999.
I’ve got a six-pack of Sierra Nevada and a bottle of Sauza Hornitos; I’ve got a stash of Humboldt Crippler and a clean 18" TM; I’ve got four Padron maduros; I’ve got a slightly musty suit, and two hundred bucks in cash. I’ve got a choice of two designated drivers, one with a '64 Dodge Dart convertible or a Land Rover and another with a BMW 540i, and I’ve got cab fare if I don’t like any of those choices. I’ve got a thousand glittering bars teeming with beautiful women, the best martinis, and jazz.
If some troglodyte wants to come along and destroy me and America, and I can’t do shit about it, then fuck 'em. They’ll never be able to take away the fact that tonight, I lived like a motherfucking prince.
And if they win, perhaps a hundred years from now someone will still remember that their kings aren’t living as high as I, a regular old schmo, once did. Is that the kind of shithole you want to live in, Q-Tip? It’s all yours, baby.
I just hope they knock me off soon, if they’re gonna do it. I’m running out of money.
Ho hum. I hate to be the wet blanket in this Apocolyptic party, but I’m underwhelmed by the danger. Anyone can think up worst-case scenarios, and evidently that’s what sells papers this month, so of course the AP is going to carry the obligatory head-for-the-hills, the-nukes-are-coming article.
We’ve had the terrorists-flying-planes-into-buildings tactic used already. Not good at all. The followup was the anthrax-in-the-mail tactic where, what? four people have died already? About one percent of the number of people that die every year by catching the flu from some idiot co-worker that won’t stay home when he’s sick and winds up infecting the whole office? (OK, I made that statistic up.) But, geez, the post-September 11th terrorist threat has turned out to be pretty non-scary, really.
You really think Osama bin Laden has a nuke in his closet? Pooh-pooh. If, in the remote chance that he really did have one, we’d have seen it already. The big scary noo-cyoo-ler bogeyman is just that: a bogeyman.
I’ll trust OBL to tell the facts straight before I listen to these bozos.
Hahahahahhaha…!
Where do they get their “facts”, from the back of a cereal box?!
They’re talking about a “Dust Bomb”. Yeah it’d be nasty, and unpleasant, but they completely compromise their credibility when thay talk about “plumes of radiation”. Good Lord Almighty!
Plume of radioactive dust? Better… Cloud of radioactive dust? Yes.
For those of you who don’t understand what I’m talking about:
Stink comes from Shit. Stink is not shit.
Radiation comes from radioactive material. Radiation is not radioactive material.
Radiation ~ Stink.
Radioactive Material ~ Shit.
They’re taking about a shit bomb. Shit bombs don’t emit “plumes of stink”, they scatter shit all over the place, make lots of little shit spots that each stink a little.
Same for dust bombs.
When a reporter can accurately describe what the hell they’re talking about, I’ll listen to what they say.
Oh, sorry. I will neither confirm nor deny your guess about item #2, but I can tell you that TM now officially stands for “TobaccoMaster.” Padrons are my favorite cigars, and Sauza Hornitos is a fine 100% agave tequila/mezcal/something-or-other-that-makes-you-feel-all-warm-and-fuzzy.
Don’t let all this bullshit get you all down. Go out and have fun, dammit! Live it like it’s your last, and tomorrow you’ll wish it were.
I’m living ten feet tall and bulletproof, and I’m walking out the door…
…right
…now.
Hope to see you out there. If you see me, just drop me in a heap on my doorstep, eh?
What worries me about any kind of nuke used on us is that the “Nuke the whole middle-east and let god sort 'em out” freaks would get their way and this time the domino effect would be real.
And DAMN you, Eve, stop this “I don’t care if I live or die” crap. It sounds too suicidal and I have too much experience in that area to take it lightly. Please ever so, dahling. Won’t you do that for your old ageless?
Tickle, tickle, tickle; let’s see that cute little smile…that’s better.
:eek: Or, conversely, the radioactive cloud will drift inot the accursed laboratories that are producing the anthrax, and mutate the germs, which will become GIANT-SIZED RADIOACTIVE SPORES THAT ROAM THE COUNTRYSIDE IN SEARCH OF OUR WOMEN! :eek:
Fenris,
Pessimist at large
Rates probably far too high. Expenses too much to ask for. And you won’t call anyway, so why am I bothering?
Thanks Sofa for the clarification. At my age, and with the family I’ve got, my vices are limited to Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough, but I’m with you in spirit.
