Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Nonsensical!


A report in The Daily Telegraph, 'Al-Qaida on brink of using nuclear bomb', claims that "Al-Qaida is on the verge of producing radioactive weapons after sourcing nuclear material and recruiting rogue scientists to build "dirty" bombs, according to leaked diplomatic documents.... Security briefings suggest that jihadi groups are also close to producing "workable and efficient" biological and chemical weapons that could kill thousands if unleashed in attacks on the West..."

The article refers to "... thousands of classified American cables obtained by the WikiLeaks website and passed to The Daily Telegraph...", so presumably this is the source of the "leaked diplomatic documents." Although the article uses the present tense (e.g. see the headline), the documents in question date to 2008 and 2009, and refer to revelations "...that "greater advances" had been made in bioterrorism than was previously realized...", that the terrorists "... have the technical competence to manufacture an explosive device beyond a mere dirty bomb...", and that "... terrorist gangs were trafficking large amounts of highly radioactive material across Europe, Africa and the Middle East..."

Hmm, these unimpeachable (cough!) sources apparently would have us believe that although the terrorists have the capability, the will, and the desire to attack the West and kill thousands, they will instead content themselves using their "dirty radioactive IEDs" to target British troops in Afghanistan with "... makeshift nuclear roadside bombs." Hmm, seems rather unlikely...

Additionally, if al-Qaeda in 2008/2009 already had the know how, access to weapons-grade nuclear material, and the technical competence to build an actual nuclear weapon, how exactly is it that we are now in 2011 and that there have been no such attacks? Hah, perhaps we are to believe that having tamed the nuclear bomb, the terrorists have moved on and are now going for a thermonuclear one!

Not content with these follies, the article then blithely skips on to bio-terrorism... Apparently it is a fairly trivial exercise to develop the necessary pathogens, and that "... anthrax and other biological agents including smallpox, and avian flu could be sprayed from a shop-bought aerosol can in a crowded area..." Quick, let's require FBI background checks for the purchase of aerosol cans!

Further, the article even implies that the terrorists might actually filch smallpox from the United States - "...the security of the world's only two declared smallpox stores in Atlanta, America, and Novosibirsk, Russia, has repeatedly been called into doubt..." Wow!

On further reflection, what a total load of codswallop!

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