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Terror Networks & Islam
On Islamic Websites: A Guide for Preparing Nuclear Weapons
2005-10-13
Alongside the numerous documents posted on Islamist websites on how to prepare various types of explosives, "An Encyclopedia for the Preparation of Nuclear Weapons" has recently appeared on such websites. The "Encyclopedia" was posted on October 6, 2005 on the Islamist forum Al-Firdaws [1] ("Paradise"), by someone whose nom de guerre is Layth Al-Islam ("The Lion of Islam"). A link to a slightly different version appeared on October 9 in a Yahoo! discussion group called " mujahedon." [2]

The "Encyclopedia," which contains nine lessons in approximately 80 pages in Arabic, was published under the title "The Nuclear Bomb of Jihad and the Way to Enrich Uranium" and was presented as "a gift to the commander of the Jihad fighters, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, for the purpose of Jihad for the sake of Allah."

The "Encyclopedia" was published as "a scientific research by Jihad Fighter No. 1," who wrote: "For the past two years, I have been studying nuclear physics through various scientific forums and Jihadist forums. Similarly, I have been studying the technology of missiles and various types of explosives and explosive devices.

"I believe that the strategic balance of Jihad fighters from a military point of view cannot change without proper scientific progress. However, this kind of progress, along with the [necessary] experiments, require laboratories. Therefore, my brother the Jihad fighter, I have tried to present experiments that are simple and within your capabilities, or, as is commonly said, [that can be conducted] in the kitchen."
Yeah, that's going to be fun
The "Encyclopedia," states:

"Perhaps nuclear weapons represent a technology of the 1940s. However, the Crusaders – the allies of Satan, Allah's curse be upon them – insist upon depriving the Jihad fighters of the right to [have] these weapons. But now the Jihad fighters have acquired technological skills that enable them, with Allah's help, to understand this [nuclear weapons] technology. Thus, they are able to make a major leap forward in producing this kind of strategic weapon, even in the kitchens of their homes.

"What is important now [to recall] is that the nuclear device is a bomb with special qualities, which requires means for its transportation to its final goal – whether it be carried by an airplane or a missile. Hence, it is very important to acquire knowledge about missiles as a means of carrying and launching.

"I shall begin, with Allah's help, with a number of lessons, starting with the clarification of the idea, until we reach the [stage of] experimentation and implementation, with the support of Allah's might."

The nine lessons that follow the introduction include a historical survey of the development of nuclear science, explanations about natural radioactivity, the nuclear qualities of certain materials, critical mass, the construction of nuclear weapons, and the extraction of radium.

The "Encyclopedia" opens with Koranic verse 9:14 -15: "Fight them so that Allah will punish them at your hands and will put them to shame and will give you victory over them, and will heal the hearts of a believing people, and will remove the anger of their hearts. Allah forgives whoever he wishes, for Allah is omniscient and wise."
Posted by:Steve

#20  So do we believe they have another? Or a reliable delivery system? Or is pretending they do a way to prop up Perv instead of the ISI and keep India worried and looking for friends?
Posted by: Ulith Angeretle4390   2005-10-13 21:18  

#19  Swedish companies make advanced explosives.

Wasn't Alfred Nobel a Swede? :)

Their engineering is superb.

That it is. I have an old Garcia Ambassadeur fishing reel that's about thirty years old, but it works as smooth as silk as it did the day I bought it.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-10-13 21:14  

#18  UA4390---I remember reading that the ChiComs helped the Pacs a lot.

It is going to take some work to concentrate enough U235 for the gun weapon, and get it pure enough to use and form into the necessary two main shapes to create the weapon. Best way is to buy it. Going to have to know enough not to be ripped off. Even the Russian Mafia does not want to have the finger pointed at them if they sold some U235 to some nutjobs. Delivery will be an issue, as it will be heavy, if you want one to have a yield and be more than just a dirty bomb. There is some great research waiting for those willing to learn and be willing to put up with some serious work accidents.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2005-10-13 18:49  

#17  May 28, 1998

If a backwater like pakistan can do it, anybody can. Or did they just borrow a Chinese nuke to test?
Posted by: Ulith Angeretle4390   2005-10-13 16:56  

#16  And the examples of Pakistan and North Korea may not be relevant. Neither nation can even fabricate a bicycle (the first plant for bicyles has just opened in NoKo with chinese technology) yet claims nuclear tech. The documents from Libya showed that the Chinese supplied the weapon designs to Pakistan. They in turn proleferated to Noko and Iran (and possibly Saudi).

Neither has sent even a soccer ball into space yet claims to develop ICBM technology.

Pakistan was unable to develop nukes without Chinese help (including detailed info on how to machine parts shown on blueprints).
NoKo needed the Chinese designs, via Pak.

Posted by: john   2005-10-13 16:45  

#15  I doubt that even a gun type weapon is that easy to build. Before signing the NPT, Sweden had a secret weapon program, run by the defence ministry and several large industrial concerns - SAAB, Bofors etc. It was eventually discovered by members of parliament and shut down.

Now Bofors builds some of the best howitzers around. They know more about artillery tubes than most. Swedish companies make advanced explosives. Their engineering is superb. Sweden posesses advanced nuclear technology. Their neighbor Norway was making Heavy water during WW2.

The secret programme ran for a few years yet even a gun type weapon was not produced in time. I would assume nuclear material was not a problem in the period prior to the NPT.

I think we are seriously underestimating the difficulty in making an atomic bomb.
Posted by: john   2005-10-13 16:38  

#14  Smoke detector sensors. Ten of those will provide enough radioactive material for...one.....bomb.......
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-10-13 16:26  

#13  John,

Commentary on the money.

The nuclear weapons construction game for the Poor Man's Robert Oppenheimer basically has two dilemmas:

1. Gun-type: Easy to make the bomb, but where are you going to get all of that enriched uranium?

2. Implosion: Needs much less fissile material (plutonium), but needs a great deal of engineering ability to manufacture.

I suspect dreaming about nuclear weapons is what jihadis do in lieu of playing Dungeons and Dragons.

"Mahmood, I'll hit your Infidel Crusader with a +12 Fermi nuclear blast."

"Ha, Achmed! My Crusader has used his +13 Inviso-Jew Shield to thwart to you."

"Oh! The Jews control everything!"
Posted by: Dreadnought   2005-10-13 16:25  

#12  a rudimentary nuke can be made with an artillery tube and nuke material.

Significant engineering is involved in the manufacture of gun type weapons. The weapons grade uranium 235 required is not readily available.
If it were, Kaddaffi would have bought some. Saddam would have bought some (and still be around), Iran would have bought some.
In the period prior to the NPT, several contries tried to become nuclear powers. Most failed, including some with signicant techiccal resources (Australia, Brazil, Argentina).
These weapons are clearly NOT easy to build.

Dual-use technology can be used to detonate either a bomb or a kidney stone

Spark gap triggers are used in lithotripters and in implosion type weapons (as constructed by rogue nations like Pakistan). These are far more sophisticated and way beyond the capability of even some countries.

Let us look at the evidence. There have been nation states like Iraq that tried for a decade to build atomic weapons. There was all the resources of an entire country : the best physicists in the universities, the best engineers, vast resources from the treasury, a secret service that could steal technology etc. A state, able to purcase things like weapon technology that individuals cannot. A state with cargo ships and transport aircraft.

A decade and unlimited resources was not enough for a country but terrorist groups can build or buy such weapons?


Posted by: john   2005-10-13 15:04  

#11  Well there was that kid in Michigan with the americurium reactor.... made with duct tape...
Posted by: 3dc   2005-10-13 14:37  

#10  Didn't MacGyver make one with a old VW bus engine, an orange crate and a tampon?

That was an EMP device. The nuke he made with the glowing stuff scraped off 500 watch faces.

(Or was that Bloom County's Oliver?)
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2005-10-13 14:11  

#9  Didn't MacGyver make one with a old VW bus engine, an orange crate and a tampon?
Posted by: Doc8404   2005-10-13 13:56  

#8  Should make it easy to identify the jihadis. They'll be the ones glowing in the dark.
Posted by: RWV   2005-10-13 13:05  

#7  a rudimentary nuke can be made with an artillery tube and nuke material

Gun type nuke, developed during Manhatten Project were considered so reliable they didn't even bother testing one.
Posted by: Steve   2005-10-13 12:44  

#6  Oooh, Time magazine! Now THERE'S an authoritative source on nuclear physics!
Posted by: gromky   2005-10-13 12:38  

#5  Detonation of a kidney stone sounds like torture to me (it hurt just to read it).
Posted by: NYer4wot   2005-10-13 12:13  

#4  According to the 2-14-05 copy of Time mag, a rudimentary nuke can be made with an artillery tube and nuke material. Dual-use technology can be used to detonate either a bomb or a kidney stone. The EU and CIA projection of years away before Iran could develop one assumed too much while overlooking that there is stolen material and freebie info floating around.
Posted by: Danielle   2005-10-13 12:10  

#3  I invented kitchen built atomic devices. For ozone monitoring, of course, but like my other invention, the Internet, it could be perverted to Republican Free Speech weapons construction.
Posted by: Al Gore   2005-10-13 12:10  

#2  Sounds like a "How to hack computers" guide from 1991. I bet legions of young Muslim men are going to jerk off furiously while reading this claptrap. Like anyone can make nuclear weapons in the kitchen. Really.
Posted by: gromky   2005-10-13 11:53  

#1  The CIA should have slipped (incorrect) guides to building nukes and dirty bombs out there long ago. Design them so that whomever is working anywhere near them doesn't take the right precautions and preferably blows themselves up in the process.

Like that old Mash episode. Cut the red wire, but first...
Posted by: rjschwarz   2005-10-13 11:46  

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