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2008-04-17 Home Front: WoT

Nuclear attack on D.C. a hypothetical disaster

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Posted by Steve White 2008-04-17 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 Compare wid YAHOO > GOVERNMENT TO COLLECT DNA FROM EVERYONE THEY ARREST; + TOPIX > ARE CELL PHONE COMPANIES TRACKING YOUR LOCATION? + USDOD MAY IMPLANT RFID CHIPS IN SERVICEMEMBERS.

OTOH, WORLDNEWS > THE US HAD SECRET PLANS TO NUKE VIETNAM, LAOS. To stop Commie guerillas, espec during TET + INVASION OF CAMBODIA.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-04-17 00:49|| 2008-04-17 00:49|| Front Page Top

#2 Compare wid YAHOO > GOVERNMENT TO COLLECT DNA FROM EVERYONE THEY ARREST; + TOPIX > ARE CELL PHONE COMPANIES TRACKING YOUR LOCATION? + USDOD MAY IMPLANT RFID CHIPS IN SERVICEMEMBERS.

OTOH, WORLDNEWS > THE US HAD SECRET PLANS TO NUKE VIETNAM, LAOS. To stop Commie guerillas, espec during TET + INVASION OF CAMBODIA.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-04-17 00:51|| 2008-04-17 00:51|| Front Page Top

#3 Several years ago, I read an article in Scientific American, (I mean, as opposed to Time Magazine or The National Inquirer), that concluded in a dirty bomb attack in Manhattan, many more would die in the stampede than from radiation.

Anyone think it'd be different if it was a real bomb? We'd all just line up and walk out of town, single file?

A lot of folks would lose their jobs, at least for a while, and who would feed them? We would also, no doubt, have to import workers to rebuild, because those unemployed by the blast could not be expected to work with their hands, now, could they?

Salmon-pink Steve got it right - no one is thinking of the easy way to avoid it.

Posted by Bobby 2008-04-17 05:59|| 2008-04-17 05:59|| Front Page Top

#4 The zone of destruction is projected to be less than that of Hiroshima, where the bomb was dropped from an airplane and detonated above the city.

Because having secured a nuclear device it is impossible for the jihadis to load it onto an airplane and fly it over their target.
/sarc

Even assuming a working CAP over DC - which I do not - there is nothing to stop a flying suicide bomb from taking out Disneyworld, Las Vegas or any other profile target that comes to mind.

Posted by Excalibur 2008-04-17 08:27|| 2008-04-17 08:27|| Front Page Top

#5 This is what I don't understand; They aren't going to bomb rural Missouri, they want DC or NY, so the you'd think the assholes there in the govt. would be a little more worried about Iran/NKor, Syria, ect.

Posted by Mad Eye Hupolumble9529 2008-04-17 08:46|| 2008-04-17 08:46|| Front Page Top

#6 If I was a terrorist, I would chose a target that would have a good body count, but be fairly unguarded while stating I would hit DC, LA, NY or somewhere like that. While the press and the feds are looking into it, Seattle would vaporize.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-04-17 09:25|| 2008-04-17 09:25|| Front Page Top

#7 Does anyone find it remotely ironic that the Congress-critters only appear to be concerned about their *home base* (D.C.)? It mentions NYC and Chicago, but this is all about their turf.

Posted by BA 2008-04-17 09:50|| 2008-04-17 09:50|| Front Page Top

#8 And even if a nuke takes out DC, it would be smuggled in through a low profile means, making detection difficult if they aren't serious about the ports and borders. It certainly wouldn't be on a commercial airline!

Posted by Thealing Borgia6122 2008-04-17 10:03|| 2008-04-17 10:03|| Front Page Top

#9 Somebody, either Newt Gingrich or Tom Clancy, said the first nuke into this country would be disguised as a ton load of cocaine.

Posted by Richard Aubrey">Richard Aubrey 2008-04-17 10:46|| 2008-04-17 10:46|| Front Page Top

#10 If a small pick up truck nuke [small 3rd world nuke] were to take out Congress while in session to pass important pork votes would the country be better or worse off?

Posted by RD 2008-04-17 10:50|| 2008-04-17 10:50|| Front Page Top

#11

Never happen. We've got dozens and dozens of cops in cars idling all over the Federal areas of the city, and jersey barriers/ bollards/ magnetometers/ 100% ID check/ iris scanners at the entrances to every agency.

DC is locked down tight.

Posted by Seafarious 2008-04-17 11:10|| 2008-04-17 11:10|| Front Page Top

#12 I believe its possible to get a device near enough to destroy Congress, but it would have to be a modern small sophisticated and well shielded device. Something the Terrs do not have access to, in general.

Killing ALL the members of Congress might not be all that bad, other than the horrid loss of life and the collateral damage. There are only a few Senators and Reps that I would miss. The rest of them...

Posted by OldSpook 2008-04-17 11:46|| 2008-04-17 11:46|| Front Page Top

#13 Pat Roberts is my rep and he always comes to town to talk to us bitter people. There is nothing wrong with Kansas.

Posted by bman 2008-04-17 11:56|| 2008-04-17 11:56|| Front Page Top

#14 President Dale: I want the people to know that they still have 2 out of 3 branches of the government working for them, and that ain't bad.

-- From Mars Attacks

(I wonder what Polka music does to Jihadists.....)

Posted by CrazyFool 2008-04-17 12:00|| 2008-04-17 12:00|| Front Page Top

#15 While Washington, DC, would be a political feather in the cap of Al-Qaida, I'd expect the first nuke to be in a southern port - Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Tampa, Miami, Savannah, or Charleston. It would be easier, it would cause tremendous panic, and it would be an economic disaster for the US. Of course, if John-boy is president, I'd expect a complete and total nuclear response in the muddled east that would more than equal the damage to the United States. If hillarity or BO were president, they'd probably surrender.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2008-04-17 12:11|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2008-04-17 12:11|| Front Page Top

#16 The areas of concern are border and port cities, then areas with high transient populations.

Mr. Dallas said a major problem facing most cities is a lack of available hospital beds for victims of burns that would result from a nuclear blast.

Some 25 or so years back, there was a push to have DoD coordinate with civilian hospitals to develop capacity to be able to take in combat casualties (with a secondary of dealing with mass casualties). The medical community pushed back for 'political' reasons and the capacity was never developed.

Posted by Pappy 2008-04-17 12:17|| 2008-04-17 12:17|| Front Page Top

#17 There is no way we are going to invest in the needed medical facilities to deal with this hypothetical. Just is not going to happen. Should an attack like this actually take place, the loss of life and physical damage would be absorbed, as it were, over the course of 30+ years, same as in Japan. I do think there would also be some areas of the planet that would have a far longer recovery period.

Posted by remoteman 2008-04-17 12:55|| 2008-04-17 12:55|| Front Page Top

#18 The only way to prevent this from happening is to stay on the offensive against terrorists and rogue regimes that might or already have access to nuclear weapons. Not only do we need to aggressively pursue and eliminate terror groups that have threatened such attacks on the US-- such as AQ-- and the leaders of states that harbor, support, or encourage them-- such as Iran, Syria, NK, et al.-- but we also need to put the whole world on notice- LOUDLY AND CLEARLY-- that the response to any such attack will be swift, lethal, unmitigated, and indiscriminate.

In other words, you all better do all you can to prevent such an attack from happening because if you don't and such an attack takes place and we find out it came from you, near you, or around you, you and your people, your society, your culture, and your way of life will cease to exist now or ever again.

Posted by eltoroverde 2008-04-17 13:57|| 2008-04-17 13:57|| Front Page Top

#19 Agree w/ OP; and a pick up (truck-sized) nuke or dirty bomb would be fairly easy to get into the middle of DC or any city. Unless intell picked up that news, there is no way to stop annd search every incoming vehicle.

Posted by USN,Ret. 2008-04-17 14:08|| 2008-04-17 14:08|| Front Page Top

#20 I'd expect the first nuke to be in a southern port - Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Tampa, Miami, Savannah, or Charleston.

Hopefully, the jihadis *would* be that stupid, OP. You'd see every redneck and good ol' boy in the South storming the beaches of Pakistan and Iran in their bass boats after that. And, boys, there's NO bag limit on jihadis.

Posted by BA 2008-04-17 16:01|| 2008-04-17 16:01|| Front Page Top

#21 If they really wanted to damage the economy, they'd detonate 20KT warhead at deck level on a barge in the Houston Ship Channel, which would demolish the port, the refineries, petroleum and rail nexus, trashing the city itself, and send a radioactive tsunami up the river to flood out the plains N of Houston and make it unlivable. Thats in addition to the fallout spreading all the way to New Orleans.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-04-17 16:02|| 2008-04-17 16:02|| Front Page Top

#22 So if a nuke gets popped in a major American city it would be a bad thing?
I don't think I'd call this a "scoop"...

Posted by tu3031 2008-04-17 16:13|| 2008-04-17 16:13|| Front Page Top

#23 If something like this happens, the world and the country will never be the same. "Business as usual" will be the first casualty. There's a lot of idiocy currently happening in this country that would stop immediately, and most of it is coming from the left. Those folks would need to be walking pretty damned softly or they'd find themselves decorating trees in short order. Read what happened in Galveston, Texas, after the 1900 hurricane, for a preview of the likely response.

Posted by Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 2008-04-17 18:31|| 2008-04-17 18:31|| Front Page Top

#24 While there are more tactically important targets, the jihadis are fixated on New York and DC. Myself, if I had two nukes, I'd go for Norfolk and San Diego at Christmas. Try to get as many carriers in port as possible.

Posted by Steve">Steve 2008-04-17 20:50|| 2008-04-17 20:50|| Front Page Top

#25 they'd be disappointed at SD (ixnay on the "ansay iegoday" talk, k?) there is rarely more than one of the three SD-based carriers in port. A large jump from when I first had an office window view on the bay ('97....geeez, who was prez?)

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-04-17 22:02|| 2008-04-17 22:02|| Front Page Top

#26 See related on WAFF.com > FEAR OF NUCLEAR ATTACK ON THE RISE. ALso from WAFF > FEARS OVER RUSSIA'S DECLINING OIL OUTPUT.

Again, in the absence of Islamist-led/only batlefield victory over the US in Iraq-Afghani, and failing to induce US withdrawal from the ME, to save their Jihad and fight another day the Islamists are recognizing their iimdiate = near-term need to acquire NUKES-WMDS IN QUANTITIES + UTILITY POTENT ENUFF TO CAUSE THE US-ALLIES TO THINK TWICE OR THRICE ABOUT MIL ENGAGING ISLAMIST MILITANT GROUPS. By definition, this includes the ability to attack the USA = US-ALLIED WID NUKES-WMDS AT WILL AND INSIDE THE LATTER'S OWN SPECIFIC NATIONAL TERRITORIES. Iff the Islamists don't have any already, they need Nukes-WMDS now.

E.G. GEORGIA > Govt reportedly fears that RUSSIAN suppor and aid to its breakaway regions of ABSKHAZIA + SOUTH OSSETIA are deliberate Russ threats to Georgian sovereignty + national territor integrity.

REGIONAL MAP > Collectively, I don't know what other RB'ers see but what I see is poten geographic-territor expansion of Iran + Islamism into RUSSIA + CENTRAL ASIA???

*FOX + MSNBC > Iff NOTHING IS DONE ABOUT NUCLEARIZING IRAN, THEN AMERS SHOULD EXPECT TO SEE BOTH IRAN + ISLAMIST MILITANTS-TERRORISTS, ETC. RADICAL GOVTS + ROUPS HAVE NUKE WEAPONS, + IN THE VERY NEAR-TERM, qs early as 2009[Israel-USDOD-NATO Reports], and CERTAINLY BY 2010.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-04-17 23:35|| 2008-04-17 23:35|| Front Page Top

23:57 Barbara Skolaut
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