[Hobbs]

[quote=wolf]...Short version ... Osama Bin Laden and his minions are supposed to have acquired a number of suitcase nukes ...QUOTE]

Any mention of suitcase nukes on the internet date back to March '04. I actually research this a little when this rumour began to circulate last year. It worried me.

Most of the articles that I found either dispute the existance of any working devices or the common terrorist ability to handle and detonate one successfully. This article reflect most of the common opinions.

BHARAT RAKSHAK MONITOR - Volume 6(5) March April 2004

Activating the weapon would require special technical skills and intimate knowledge of sophisticated electronic codes. Only a few nuclear scientists with experience in the assembly of ADMs could be expected to have the skills necessary for the purpose. Overcoming the hurdles of breaking electronic locks would be infinitely more difficult and, besides state-of-the-art supercomputers and personnel trained to operate them, would require a highly advanced intelligence gathering system. Neither Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda, nor any of the other large terrorist organizations supporting it, is likely to have acquired the ability to trigger a modern brief case nuke that it may have bought or stolen, especially if the Tritium triggers needed to ignite them have decayed.

However, it is possible that these terrorist organizations may have themselves developed and assembled a crude mini-nuke or may do so in the near future. The gun-type nuclear device, that uses high explosives (HE) to fire a sub-critical highly enriched uranium (HEU) projectile into another sub-critical uranium cylinder to form a solid HEU critical mass, may be the easiest to fabricate. Designs for such a nuclear bomb have been floating on the Internet ether for years. Still, such an effort would need hundreds of millions of dollars to procure the ingredients, the ingenuity of volunteer or mercenary nuclear scientists and oodles of luck. Though the development of a practically usable nuclear warhead presents a complex challenge, it would be irresponsible to assume that it cannot be done. Ever since the break up of the Soviet Union, there have been credible reports of many out of work nuclear scientists having gone missing. While some of them have doubtlessly been employed by North Korea and other states of concern, the erstwhile rogue nations, others may have had no compunction in loaning their skills to whoever asked if the right amount of money was on offer -- preferably in US dollars.

I don't subscribe to the idea that a nuke will never be successfully used in this country. Al-Qieda has large amounts of money to purchase anything they want. Plus they are patient and time is on thier side.