If terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb in an American city...

[ringmastery]

What would be Bush's response? Nuke Afghanistan and other middle eastern countries and kill millions of civilians?

[ulysses]

1. martial law, most likely.

[tom_paine]

2. Martial Law. Round up dissenters. Full neighbor-spying-on-neighbor

Perhaps Gulags and Work Camps for the dispossessed (provided they're Democrats, or just plain old poor).

One cannot even begin to guess what horrors the Busheviks would unleash if they had THOSE Letters of Marque & Reprisal, given what they have been using the carte blanche of 9-11 for.

[ulysses]

4. jinx!

;-)

[tom_paine]

6. Buy me a coke!

:evilgrin:

[ulysses]

11. as we both whistle past the graveyard...

:) :scared:

[enki23]

9. they wouldn't go after the Democrats

the Democrats make up about half the nation. they would be just fine, at least politically. however, they *would* go after the labor-organizers, the socialists, the environmentalists, the greens, the muslims, the thinkers and talkers and protesters. you know, the scapegoats. and Democrats, for the most part, would say "it must be done to defend the homeland." and "now is not the time to be divided." the republicans would say "kill them!", and then "hooray!"

[jokerman93]

3. That would solve all of B*'s problems

He would declare martial law, cancel the elections and be the dictator since it's much easier that way...

And I'm completely serious about this. I believe it's precisely what he would do.

[gulfcoastliberal]

5. Probably Cancel Elections and Impose Martial Law,

And eliminate civil liberties a la Tommy Franks' interview in "Cigar Afficianado". Then maybe invade Iran or something. (Somewhere that Halliburton would make more $$$.)

[JuniorPlankton]

7. If that happens, though,

* will win in a landslide. When people are scared they run to the president even when it doesn't make any sense. (September 11?)

Then we will nuke a few countries and say we are bringing democracy to the Middle East.

[Loonman]

8. There used to be a protoccol in place with the former USSR

That if either country used a nuke for punitive reasons on a country besides each other, we would launch on them and vice versa.

Another rule of MAD.

[soleft]

10. today was the day Debka said Alquada was going to nuke NYC

[Loonman]

12. DEBKA is 50% right 50% of the time

The rest of the time it's Mossad propaganda.

[treepig]

33. what!? nuke nyc with a nuclear weapons program?

the whole boogeyman argument that al quaida had nuclear weapons began with a bbc report by John Simpson:

The United States has confirmed that documents found in a Kabul building believed to have been used as a safe house by Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network contained details about how to produce nuclear weapons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1657901.stm

An abandoned Taliban building in Kabul contained an alarming document that apparently described how to make an atomic bomb.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11935

The papers were picked out by BBC correspondent John Simpson and showed, he said, "how dangerous Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network aspired to be".

http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/usterror/usterror.jsp?id=ns99991584

. . . the Times (of London) report was addressed in a Thursday press conference by Governor Tom Ridge, director of the Office of Homeland Security. Ridge referred to the discovery of "materials relative to a nuclear threat" and said they were "certainly consistent with statements that he would like to acquire that capacity."


and now for the rest of the story:

But alarm turned to laughter when a webmaster who'd viewed news footage of the document recognized it as a 1979 parody.


"Since last week's column, 'Let's Make a Time Machine', was received so well in the new step-by-step format, this month's column will follow the same format," one section begins.


The article first appeared in the Journal of Irreproducible Results, which has been publishing scientific humor and trivia since the 1950s, and Taliban fighters would find this particular parody no more helpful than any of the magazine's other mock science. It advised would-be bomb builders to obtain high-grade plutonium "at your local weapons supplier ... or perhaps the Junior Achievement in your neighborhood ... Wash your hands with soap and warm water after handling the material, and don't allow your children or pets to play in it or eat it."


"Any left over Plutonium dust is excellent as an insect repellant. You may wish to keep the substance in a lead box if you can find one in your local junk yard, but an old coffee can will do nicely."


Nevertheless, late last week white-haired BBC reporter John Simpson included footage of the document in a report from the building, along with pictures of left-behind weapons, explosives, hand grenades and even box-cutters. Anthony Lloyd, a reporter from the Times of London also appears to have discovered the document, since he refers to its erroneous instructions about using TNT to create a thermo-nuclear device.


Al-Qaeda didn't have sufficient understanding of physics, English, or geek humor to catch this piece in their filters. I would have thought that a native command of English and a good general education would be enough to catch the parody. But it isn't. Anthony Loyd was also taken in

here's the step by step instructions:

http://winn.com/bs/atombomb.html

CONSTRUCTION METHOD
First, obtain about 50 pounds (110 kg) of weapons grade Plutonium at your local supplier (see NOTE 1). A nuclear power plant is not recommended, as large quantities of missing Plutonium tends to make plant engineers unhappy. We suggest that you contact your local terrorist organization, or perhaps the Junior Achievement in your neighborhood.
Please remember that Plutonium, especially pure, refined Plutonium, is somewhat dangerous. Wash your hands with soap and warm water after handling the material, and don't allow your children or pets to play in it or eat it. Any left over Plutonium dust is excellent as an insect repellant. You may wish to keep the substance in a lead box if you can find one in your local junk yard, but an old coffee can will do nicely.
Fashion together a metal enclosure to house the device. Most common varieties of sheet metal can be bent to disguise this enclosure as, for example, a briefcase, a lunch pail, or a Buick. Do not use tinfoil.
Arrange the Plutonium into two hemispheral shapes, separated by about 4 cm. Use rubber cement to hold the Plutonium dust together.
Now get about 100 pounds (220 kg) of trinitrotoluene (TNT). Gelignite is much better, but messier to work with. Your helpful hardware man will be happy to provide you with this item.
Pack the TNT around the hemisphere arrangement constructed in step 4. If you cannot find Gelignite, fell free to use TNT packed in with Playdo or any modeling clay. Colored clay is acceptable, but there is no need to get fancy at this point.
Enclose the structure from step 6 into the enclosure made in step 3. Use a strong glue such as "Crazy Glue" to bind the hemisphere arrangement against the enclosure to prevent accidental detonation which might result from vibration or mishandling.
To detonate the device, obtain a radio controlled (RC) servo mechanism, as found in RC model airplanes and cars. With a modicum of effort, a remote plunger can be made that will strike a detonator cap to effect a small explosion. These detonatior caps can be found in the electrical supply section of your local supermarket. We recommend the "Blast-O-Mactic" brand because they are no deposit-no return.
Now hide the completed device from the neighbors and children. The garage is not recommended because of high humidity and the extreme range of temperatures experienced there. Nuclear devices have been known to spontaneously detonate in these unstable conditions. The hall closet or under the kitchen sink will be perfectly suitable.
Now you are the proud owner of a working thermonuclear device! It is a great ice-breaker at parties, and in a pinch, can be used for national defense.

[Terwilliger]

13. I think he'd sit in the classroom for thirty minutes

...then take off and fly around

[Zero Gravitas]

14. Invade Canada

or some other non sequitur just like invading Iraq was a non sequitur response to 9/11.

[Minstrel Boy]

18. Bring it on! :)

We beat ya back before, we'll beat back ya ag'in! :evilgrin:



Secord's Warning
written by Joe Grant and Steve Ritchie

Come all you brave young soldier lads
With your strong and manly bearing
I'll tell you a tale of a woman bold and her deed of honest daring
Laura Secord was American-born in the state of Massachusets
But she made her home in Canada and proved so faithful to us

Chorus
There's American guns and 500 men
So the warning must be given
And Laura Ingersoll Secord was the stalwart heart
Who braved the heat and the flies and the swamp
To warn Colonel Fitzgibbon

There's soldiers pounding at the door
And they come from across the border
American officers march inside
It's food and drink they've ordered
In comfort they have dined and drunk
Their own success they've toasted
But they pay no heed to the woman who hears their plan so idly boasted

Chorus

Oh, James I've overheard it all
A surprise attack they're making
Fitzgibbon they intend to smash
His men for prisoners taking
And James a warning never you'll take with your wounded knee and shoulder
I myself must carry it past the sentries and the soldiers

Chorus

It's an all-day tramp to the British camp
By way of Shipman's Corners
There're snakes and flies and sweat in her eyes
There is no respite for her
She's lost her shoes in the muck of the bog
Her feet are torn and blistered
But there's many a soldier lad to be spared if the message be delivered

Chorus

So all you Yankee soldier lads who dare to cross our border
Thinking to save us from ourselves
Usurping British order
There's women and men Canadians all
Of every rank and station
To stand on guard and keep us free
From Yankee domination!

[jpak]

15. This is stupid

There is no terrorist organization that has the capability of producing a nuclear bomb, let alone delivering it against the US.

Only a nation/state has this capability and they could not deliver it anonymously - there would always be a trail of evidence linking them to it.

A conventional response (invasion and conquest) would rectify things in short order.

And the American people would back that war to the proverbial hilt.

[Muddleoftheroad]

19. Terrorists and bombs

I agree that none can create such a bomb. But if news reports are true, those bombs are available as a result of mismanagement by Russia. So, yes, it could happen.

[ringmastery]

20. exactly

Russia supposedly "lost" 100 or so backpack nuclear bombs they made.

[jpak]

23. Nonsense

100 "lost" backpack nukes????

Do you really believe this????

On top of the dozens SS-21 warheads stacked up in Osama's cave???

Enabling codes and pits and fuzing and all????

Maybe they have Saddam's WMD too!!!!!

LOL!!!!!

[Muddleoftheroad]

24. One would be enough

[jpak]

25. There is no evidence of any nuclear devices "missing" from Russia

And if there were, the Russians would go apeshit.

This scenario has as much crediblity as a Tom Clancey novel - it's bullshit.

[brokensymmetry]

28. Really?

It appears that not everyone is so sanguine about the possiblity. It is, I suppose, unlikely - but not impossible.

Here's a link to an old CBS news story -

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/11/05/archive/main317014.shtml

[jpak]

31. Remind me not to lose sleep over this Boogieman

Osama has nukes????

Why didn't he use them on 9/11 or since???

(clue: cuz he don't have any)

[Robb]

30. There's practically no evidence

of nuclear devices not missing, either. It got really, really bad over there after the Soviet breakup, and in many places it hasn't gotten any better. Post-Soviet-era accounting procedures for nuclear material (which includes more than just the enriched goodies) have been pathetic, and exceptionally troubling.

Remember all the states that used to be "Russia"? Ukraine is a great example. In 1990 Kravchuk said he was going to divest his country of all 3,000-odd tactical nuclear weapons it possessed. In 1996 they said they had completed the task. 8 years later it remains unverified, and Ukraine is still a global leader in exports of missile technology -- notably to Iran in 1992.

For grins, it's worth mentioning the Bechtel company is the main contractor in the decommissioning program of the Ukrainian silo launchers, a $400 million endeavor.

[Xithras]

32. Well...nukes aren't really THAT hard to build

1) Get a big lump of fissionable nuclear material.
2) Have a talented metalworker fashion it into a perfect sphere.
3) Create a series of shaped, high explosive charges that perfectly fit the sphere.
4) Create an electronic detonator to set off all of the explosives simultaneously.

Inefficient (sub-Hiroshima sized) nuclear weapons are actually suprisingly easy to build (the instructions are all over the Internet) and yet would still level everything within a few miles of the detonation point. The only reason that there aren't MORE nuclear powers in the world is the difficulty in step #1. If a terrorist group DID manage to get their hands on a few pounds of refined Uranium, we'd be in a LOT of trouble.

[forgethell]

16. I don't know what Shrub would do; I don't

know what I would do,if I were President. What should be done in that circumstance?

[Timefortruth]

17. It would be further evidence we are winning the war on terra.

If there were Armageddon then there will have been total success.

[SemperEadem]

21. they need to look for people who look like them

the danger that exists from terrorists who look and think like the president is far greater than it exists from those who don't look like him.

Timothy McVeigh has already done this song and dance for us. How many thousand of others like him are out there doing the same exact thing and getting an "okey-doke" because they don't look Middle Eastern?

I fear a white right wing-nut separatist gun enthusiast who hates the federal government and wants to overthrow it more than I fear a Muslim from the Middle East right about now.

[stopthegop]

22. well...

Muslims from the ME have killed more Americans lately...

[Djinn]

29. actually AMERICANS have killed more Americans lately

and always have - your fellow citizens murder more people each year with guns than were killed during the attacks on September 11...

[Mr.Green93]

26. ban guns

[Forkboy]

27. If terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb in an American city...

I would hope it would be mine.A nuclear wasteland would be a step up :)

[Silverhair]

34. If an American city were nuked:

1. Martial Law
2. Ethnic cleansing. In WWII we merely put Japanese into interment camps. Over this, we would probably want to be rid of anybody of Middle East origin.
3. Nuke lots of ME cities.
4. The rest of the world wouldn't do a damn thing to stop us, and a lot of Western countries would join in.