Reply #50: OK, Here is what I would do. [View All]

[Silverhair]

First let me address some of the comments. I am NOT spreading an RW meme. In the first debate, when Kerry was asked what the greatest threat to the USA was, he answered, "Nuclear proliferation." Was Kerry spreading a Republican Meme? No. He was speaking a simple truth. By talking about this subject, I am trying to stimulate public discussion, as was done in the Cold War.

In researching for this question, I found a diversity of opinion among experts as to how probable this was. NONE said it was impossible. Some even thought that AQ already had some Russian suitcase nukes. I don't think they do, because they would have used them already. But someday they may get one and that is a REAL possibility.

I disagree with the responder who thinks that Israel would be the first place they would use one. If they had one, we would be first. Take America down, and Israel falls on it's own.

In the way of prevention, as well as the usual things, I would also offer to buy any lose nukes. I would be hoping that the original group that had a lost nuke or nuclear material would be want to sell to the highest bidder. USA can outbid anybody. Who knows? Maybe we are doing that already.

I chose a 2KT nuke as I considered that suitcase nuke was the most likely scenario. I chose the Pentagon as I believe they would want to hit the highest value symbolic target available. I place the Pentagon above the White House as a desirable target because it represents the military might of the USA and it is an important military target.

NOW AS TO WHAT I WOULD DO:

Response would have to be both vigorous and effective. Trying to convince some terrorists friendly country to respond to a subpoena won't cut it. Treating it as an oversized criminal case would cause laughter among the terrorists of the world, and as soon as they could get another nuke we would get hit again.

However, we would have a lot going for us. I would not make a public you-are-with-us-or-against-us speech. That only serves to stiffen resistance from counties that might cooperate but need to appear independent. I would approach them through diplomacy on the idea that if the USA can be hit, they are vulnerable too if some other irrational terror group decides to target them. Most countries would quickly cooperate.

Financially, most countries would need to cooperate. A major hit on the USA would produce some huge waves in the international financial world. Like - serious turmoil in the markets. They would need international financial stability, and the only way to get that would be to stop the terror groups.

I know the civil libertarians among us will be appalled at this, but I would pull out all the stops in searching for the terror network. Yes, I would use any questioning method that might get results. And some people would simply disappear.

Of course, I would test for where the nuke was made, but that might not help. I could be one of those loose Russian nukes. I can't really blame Russia as there was a good bit of confusion and internal turmoil when the old Soviet Empire collapsed. If the nuke came from Iran or N.Korea, they would be subject to retaliation. Overwhelming retaliation.

If a country did not cooperate in finding terrorists in their nation, then I would have to use force. In cooperation with the coalition, of course.

That's it for now. Will write more later.