“A Jihadi Dirty Bomb Will Be Of Paki Origin”
Dude…
NEW DELHI: A turmoil-hit Pakistan may stress that fears about its nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of Islamic extremists are “totally unfounded and nonsense”.
But the scare is not so much about the safety of the actual nuclear weapons or warheads, as about radicals getting access to enriched uranium, nuclear components and know-how.
“Attempts by Al-Qaida to acquire dirty bombs are quite well-established,” said a senior official, who in the past has been linked with India’s nuclear weapon programme.
Jihadi outfits armed with ‘dirty bombs’ — basically radiological dispersal devices combining radioactive material with suitable explosives — are what ‘nightmare scenarios’ are often made up of.
This may just be a wargame, a Hollywood film script or the storyline of a bestseller at the moment but it’s broadly acknowledged among experts that if jihadis do actually get access to “dirty bombs”, a Pakistani imprint will certainly be visible in them.
Pakistan’s past track-record as a proliferator of nuclear technology to countries like North Korea, Iran and Libya, with the father of its nuclear programme A Q Khan sitting right at the centre of the nuclear export web, is by now well-known. Benazir Bhutto, in fact, herself played a personal role in her country’s nuclear-for-missile technology barter with North Korea during her stint as prime minister.
Consequently, the ongoing instability in Pakistan, coupled with its huge stockpile of enriched uranium and the long-standing ’sympathetic’ links forged by some elements of the country’s security establishment with jihadi outfits, all add up to an explosive mix. Harvard’s Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs director Graham Allison, in fact, was quoted on Monday as holding that “the design of Pakistan’s nuclear control system creates a risk of inside theft”.
“Pakistan has dispersed its weapons and distributed oversight to multiple strategic and security authorities. But these arrangements by necessity increase the likelihood that corrupt officials could successfully divert weapons or materials,” said Allison.
A chilling example of what this could lead to was witnessed in August 2001 when two senior scientists of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, Sultan Bashirrudin Mahmood and Chaudhiri Andul Majid, were spotted with Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan.
Not all, of course, agree with such scare scenarios. “Any country which has nuclear assets will be very careful about protecting them, with established interlocks and security features. This includes Pakistan,” said K Santhanam, former chief adviser (technology) of Defence Research and Development Organisation.
“The possibility of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into wrong hands are very low. The only way it could happen is if the state itself willingly gives it to extremist groups,” he added.
(Times of India)
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OK. Let’s say AQ or one of their affiliated sociopathic groups does lauch a dirty bomb in the US. And let’s also say that the American people decide to elect a POTUS that has a working nut-sack…judging by the increase in the Republican voter rolls this election season…a plausible scenario…
Well then, we can get this war over with by launching a devestating counter-strike against Waziristan and any and all of their allies to include Iran.
Game, set, match.
Think the Chi-coms or the little Stalin in Russia will stop us? Highly unlikely.
And we would be well on our way towards the goal of wiping out the 300 million pychopaths who make up the current jihadi movement.
This would be the excuse that we need to finally use our power and to prove to the maniacs in Islam, that the 12th Iman scenario is a false doctrine.
JMHO.
January 5th, 2008 at 8:21 amJust nuke mecca.
January 5th, 2008 at 4:49 pm