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2006-05-02 India-Pakistan
Al-Qaeda Has Dirty Bomb, Report Says
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Posted by Steve 2006-05-02 08:49|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 I wonder if he means a compressed text file hidden on a music CD? That would pass through most normal security measures

Take a music CD and rip it to a raw audio file. Take a text file. Now, replace the low-order bits in the audio files with bits from the text file:

AB1,bit0 = TB1,bit0
AB2,bit1 = TB1,bit1, etc.

Burn audio files to a new CD.

I'd bet you wouldn't be able to hear a difference between the original and the new CD, but someone who knew there was a message on it could recover it quite easily.
Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford  2006-05-02 09:37|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2006-05-02 09:37|| Front Page Top

#2 I read that as he's in a remote region where he gets radio only. *chuckle*
Posted by 2b 2006-05-02 09:55||   2006-05-02 09:55|| Front Page Top

#3 If they had a dirty bomb or a nuke, they'd use it on the nearest convenient target.
Posted by Mike 2006-05-02 10:24||   2006-05-02 10:24|| Front Page Top

#4 A "dirty bomb" is a joke. Technically, if you get *anything* radioactive and tie it to a piece of explosive, you have a "dirty bomb". This does not mean it can do squat, contaminate a large area, or pose even a minimal health risk. Compare it to a bag of ordinary dry dust tied to a block of dynamite.

A serious "dirty bomb" has to not only have a type of explosives designed to disperse your radioactive particles, it has to have the right kind of radioactive isotope, it has to be detonated in just the right place with just the right weather conditions.

And most of all, it must have publicity.

If it is not publicized, unless it is a very advanced weapon that will actually make people sick and die quickly, nobody will notice it. The rain will wash the radioactive particles down the sewer like dust.

There are many commonly available industrial chemicals that if detonated would be far more lethal and create much worse contamination.

(As a side note, the first Soviet "nuclear" missile was a dirty bomb. Literally, it was a warhead filled with nuclear waste. Didn't even have conventional explosives. It would land with a 'splat'.)
Posted by Anonymoose 2006-05-02 10:25||   2006-05-02 10:25|| Front Page Top

#5  read that as he's in a remote region where he gets radio only

you think that's funny kufr? I only get Rush Limbaugh, that infidel Dr. Laura, and Michael Savage. If I had an explosive vest I'd be tempted to use it!
Posted by Osama">Osama  2006-05-02 10:32||   2006-05-02 10:32|| Front Page Top

#6 Al-Qaeda Has Dirty Bomb

AKA Standing HeadlineTM.
Posted by Raj 2006-05-02 10:44||   2006-05-02 10:44|| Front Page Top

#7 Dirty bombs are another scare blown way, way out of scope by the press. They are difficult to do and as Amoose said, you have to have the right stuff to kill and sicken people. There is radioactive waste all over the place where uranium was mined. It is known as Uranium mine tailings (I've worked to help clean up the stuff). Even though it is labeled radioactive, the radiation is Alpha and Beta with very little Gamma. You can walk all over it and be fine. The big danger is the heavy metals used to process the Uranium, such as Mercury and Arsenic. Highly toxic crap. However, put in a bomb it would be next to worthless unless you inhaled a large portion of dust so the Alpha particles can do their work. Not a lot of casualties per bang.
Posted by DarthVader 2006-05-02 10:45||   2006-05-02 10:45|| Front Page Top

#8 
Posted by Jaiter Clolulet1389 2006-05-02 10:51||   2006-05-02 10:51|| Front Page Top

#9 (As a side note, the first Soviet "nuclear" missile was a dirty bomb. Literally, it was a warhead filled with nuclear waste. Didn't even have conventional explosives. It would land with a 'splat'.)

AFAIK, the first nuclear weapon to appear in public text was a dirty bomb. One of Heinlein's stories had both sides spreading radio isotopes to kill troops.
Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford  2006-05-02 11:09|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2006-05-02 11:09|| Front Page Top

#10 Think they'll ring the doorbell before they set it on fire and throw it on some guy's porch?
Posted by tu3031 2006-05-02 11:54||   2006-05-02 11:54|| Front Page Top

#11 LOL, tu3031!
Posted by Slomomp Crinese4661 2006-05-02 13:30||   2006-05-02 13:30|| Front Page Top

#12 Abu Hamza, who told me that he had married an Afghan woman with whom he had three children. On the same day he told me of the death of one of Bin Laden's wives during childbirth in a mountainous zone where there were no doctors.

I call Bullshit, It's been known a very long time that Osama has to have Dyalisis on a regular basis, a place with NO doctors would be the LAST place Osama would be hiding.
Posted by Redneck Jim 2006-05-02 13:35||   2006-05-02 13:35|| Front Page Top

#13 not a joke:

did anyone see the dirty bomb version with an Egyptian who was "there" and lost an eye [bona fides] when they tested it [dirty bomb] in Kabul 1980s?

yep, same cast of smelly characters and BS.
Posted by RD 2006-05-02 13:38||   2006-05-02 13:38|| Front Page Top

#14 I call Bullshit, It's been known a very long time that Osama has to have Dyalisis on a regular basis, a place with NO doctors would be the LAST place Osama would be hiding.

Dunno. I've heard the dialysis story is fake.

Keep in mind, if it came from the CIA, it might have come from Scheurer, etc.
Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford  2006-05-02 18:12|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2006-05-02 18:12|| Front Page Top

#15 nuclear devices bought on the Russian black market prior to 2001

BS.
They would used these devices if they had them.

Would Osama hesitate one second if he could detonate a nuke in Manhatten?

There is no black market. If there was such a market for nukes, Iraq would have bought them, Iran would have bought them, Libya would have bought them.

These are nation states with billions of dollars to spend, air force transport aircraft to ferry the weapons, diplomatic immunity for their "cultural attaches" intelligence operatives, scientists at universities to work on them etc.

None of them has bought a nuke because none are for sale.
Posted by john 2006-05-02 18:13||   2006-05-02 18:13|| Front Page Top

#16 Concur with your assessment John. Kinda like Viagra, if ya got it, you'll prolly use er.
Posted by Besoeker 2006-05-02 18:22||   2006-05-02 18:22|| Front Page Top

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