National Security and War

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I saw Enemy of the State for the first time the other day, it was a good movie and actually made me think about some of the issues...like for example, I knew the US government has the Echelon project which listens to all telephone calls from all over the world, but I never knew it was so bad From what I hear, the national security budget has been increased recently by about $60 billion over the next few years, which shows that there is a real threat from what they call "rogue" nations...

So my question is this: if a terrorist from any nation somehow managed to smuggle a nuke into the US, AND detonate it in a big metropolis like Washington or New York (ok it does seem a bit far fetched, but even the government seems to admit that the threat exists), what would the reaction be??? They would probably look for someone to blame, and say they pinpointed the famous Ossama Bin Laden, would they go and nuke the hell out of Afghanistan?? How would Russia and China react, World War III???



jamesglewisf's Avatar
Didn't see it.
I have no idea. I bet they already have a plan for such an occurence though. I'm sure they have run through thousands of possibilities regarding nuclear bombs.
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Jim Lewis
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Yeah, I realised they would have to have something like that...they'd probably look to help everyone in the short run, but I'm thinking that there could be almost nothing that they could do to get back at the terrorists, especially if he's from Iran or Iraq or anywhere else...

Do you think the US would be allowed to nuke other countries in retaliation, like they did in 1998 after the embassy bombings (remember they took out the pharmacological factory in Somalia and some other targets in Afghanistan)??



I say we nuke'em now before they can get us. I hate terrorists. Just nuke the entire middle east...that'll take care of most of them. Who cares.
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Well, gotta admit that's an interesting idea But then they'd have to nuke North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Serbia and a hell of a lot more countries, 'cos terrorists can come from anywhere, and it's not that hard to buy an ex-Soviet nuke for the price of a new Mercedes!!!



I'm pretty sure my local police are too busy raiding comic book shops trying to find dirty comics and arresting people for owning illegal sex toys to actually have developed a plan for finding a terrorist with a small nuclear device in the city. Unless the terrorist happened to get a lapdance at one of the local "exotic dancing" establishments, the local police would never be able to find him.

As for the original question, if the US could find a definite link between the terrorists and a country that supports terrorism, the US would likely declare some sort of war on that country. I'd be surprised if we used nuclear weapons on said country, but we'd most certainly send a good many bombers over to do some damage, at the very least.

Of course, the worst act of terrorism on American soil was perpetrated by an American. If the Montana Militia gets hold of a nuclear device and blows up some random Midwest city because they don't like the ATF, there won't really be any other country to retaliate against.



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If you remember the movie "The Peacemaker" with George Clooney, where that Serbian guy manages to steal a nuke from the Russians, smuggle it into the States...of course the Pentagon was onto him from the start, and he gets foiled right in the end by a much too smart Clooney in a hurch in the middle of Manhattan...that's sort of what gave me the idea.

There was another movie whose title I've forgotten, with a similar theme...there was a Vietnamese guy who smuggles some Plutonium into the US by having it encased in lead (radiation is undetectable through lead), to get revenge because his family was killed in the war...

Of course, they were onto him half-way through the movie, and in the end just managed to stop him from blowing up Chicago.

And also, what if the terrorist organisation is independant of the country, like say the Hamas (though I think they are backed by Lebanon)? The reason why I doubt an American could get Uranium or Plutonium in the US is that the government would pretty much know straight away, whereas foreign terrorists could somehow smuggle it in...



We've gone on holiday by mistake
I saw Enemy of the State for the first time the other day, it was a good movie and actually made me think about some of the issues...like for example, I knew the US government has the Echelon project which listens to all telephone calls from all over the world, but I never knew it was so bad From what I hear, the national security budget has been increased recently by about $60 billion over the next few years, which shows that there is a real threat from what they call "rogue" nations...

So my question is this: if a terrorist from any nation somehow managed to smuggle a nuke into the US, AND detonate it in a big metropolis like Washington or New York (ok it does seem a bit far fetched, but even the government seems to admit that the threat exists), what would the reaction be??? They would probably look for someone to blame, and say they pinpointed the famous Ossama Bin Laden, would they go and nuke the hell out of Afghanistan?? How would Russia and China react, World War III???
Fairly good pre 9/11 prediction.
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The nuke would be most likely of Pakistani origin . The country is awash with jehadis and even those with control over it's nukes could get radicalized , though it hasn't happened till now .

Also Pakistan ranks among those countries whose population hates the US---

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mar...1-87CD84584DCB



Missed closing this one because it's ancient. Per usual, rule is no threads to just house general links and news stories without a specific focus, since that always becomes a one-note de facto blog for people to flog their issues over and over.

Feel free to create threads for specific events as they happen.