Word: bombe
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...announcement of a foiled "dirty bomb" plot - or at least the apprehension of a plotter who hadn't quite formulated his plan - serves as a timely reminder that congressional probes into pre-September 11 intelligence failures are taking place in the midst of continuing peril. But like those vague threat warnings that periodically emanate from the authorities these days, Monday's announcement of the detention of Abdullah al Muhajir poses more questions than it answers...
...Brooklyn, NY, and was raised in Chicago. President Bush has deemed the former gangbanger who converted to Islam after a spell in prison (and changed his name) an "enemy combatant." The reason is that al Muhajir had allegedly been trained by al-Qaeda in Pakistan to build a radiological bomb, and sent to the U.S. to reconnoiter possible targets. He'd been arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on May 8, after having flown in from Zurich under the watchful eyes of FBI agents...
...While it may be far from inconceivable that bin Laden's network may have the capability to create a dirty bomb, operating a nuclear program would be a Herculean challenge for an organization whose survival depends on its relative invisibility. Even fully-functioning states such as Pakistan have needed decades of research and the assistance of nuclear-capable allies to develop their bomb programs, and they haven't had to hide the extensive scientific and industrial infrastructure required to build nuclear weapons. And given that a dirty bomb's function is primarily to spread terror through contamination, terrorists...
...assumption has been that forces who would build a dirty nuke would do so because it's far, far easier than to build a nuclear bomb. It's unlikely to kill 10,000 people, but any bomb that killed people and set off Geiger counters would terrify a whole city. It's ultimately a pure terror weapon...
...Speculation over a possible al Qaeda nuclear threat has mounted since John Ashcroft announced the arrest of Abdullah Al Mujahir, a U.S. citizen and former Chicago street gang member for allegedly conspiring with al Qaeda to detonate a diry bomb inside...