posted on Aug, 17 2009 @ 06:14 AM
PRESIDENT BUSH: “Special atomic demolition munitions?”
DIRECTOR CIA: “Nuclear suitcase bombs, Mr. President”
BREIFING OFFICER: “Mr. President, this mornings brief covers the latest intelligence reporting on the likely whereabouts of some of the nuclear
suitcase bombs that were manufactured in the Soviet Union. Several years ago, Alexander Lebed, Boris Yeltsion’s Security Secretary, admitted that
eighty-four (84) out of one-hundred thirty two (132) nuclear suitcases produced in the nineties were missing. We have reason to believe that al-Qaeda
have acquired several of these bombs and at least five (5) of them are now in the United States. There may be two (2) others: one (1) in the United
Kingdom and one (1) in Australia.
PRESIDENT: “Where the hell did they get hold of those?”
BREIFING OFFICER: “As you are aware, Mr. President, Osama bin Laden has considerable financial backing. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in
1991 several Russian officers, some of whom hadn’t been paid for months, turned to the black market.”
SECRETARY OF STATE: “Several of these bombs turned up in 1994. The leader of the Chechen separatists, Jokhar Dudayev, put some of them on the
market when we refused to recognize Chechnya’s independence.”
PRESIDENT: “So how did they get them into the United States?”
BREIFING OFFICER: “ They may have been here already. We have reason to believe that Soviet agents smuggled some of them during the Cold War and
pre-positioned them. Others may have been brought in more recently, probably by sea.”
PRESIDENT: “How is this possible?”
BREIFING OFFICER: “As I am sure the Secretary for Homeland Security is aware, up until recently, less than five (5) per cent of shipping containers
that came into this country were inspected.”
PRESIDENT: “We should be able to do a lot better than that.”
SECRETARY FOR HOMELAND SECURITY: “The International Shipping and Port Security Code will help, Mr. President, but we have over fifteen thousand
(15,000) ships docking in this country every day. We are not the only Western country facing this problem. In Australia last year, nineteen (19) out
of every twenty (20) containers moved into that country without inspection, and similar situation has existed in the United Kingdom.”
PRESIDENT: “What sort of damage can one of these suitcase bombs do?”
BREIFING OFFICER: “It depends on how and where they set them off, Mr. President. The preferred method of delivery would be an airburst from a
light aircraft.”
SECRETARY OF DEFENCE: “Why not on the ground?”
BREIFING OFFICER: Buildings tend to minimize the blast and thermal effect of a nuclear explosion. Although in the case of a ground burst the
long-term casualties would be higher due to a more concentrated irradiated fallout. But terrorists tend to look to the more dramatic short-term
effect and for that reason I am suggesting that a nuclear suicide attack from a light plane would be their preferred option.
CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS: “Casualties?”
BREIFING OFFICER: “Even a one (1) kiloton nuclear blast, which is the equivalent of the smallest suitcase, is no ordinary bomb. The intense heat
of a nuclear fireball reaches about ten million (10,000,000) degrees. If you want a comparison, the September 11 fireball was of the order of four to
five thousand (4,000 to 5,000) degrees. In New York, London or Sydney, for example, anything within five hundred (500) feet will be vaporized. Within
fifteen hundred (1,500) feet from ground zero metal will melt. The blast will generate winds of over six hundred (600) miles an hour and everything
out to the eighteen hundred (1,800) feet range and beyond will be destroyed. In the big cities there will be up to a quarter of a million (250,000)
dead on the first day, and up to one million (1,000,000) within two weeks. Over the ensuing days many hundreds of thousands more will die of
radiation poisoning and burns. Any city attacked will be uninhabitable for years.