Suitcase Bombs - don't panic

Hakki Alacakaptan nucleus at superonline.com
Fri Nov 16 12:19:27 PST 2001


Er, what happened to Indian Point and 3-Mile Island? I mean, why would the guys lug suitcases around when you've got nice, bangable nukes right there just waiting for a kamikaze pilot? Alternatively, how about a truck load of fertilizer and fuel oil laced with cheap low-grade uranium?

I think the suitcase nuke just appeals to a consumer society that has learned to confer sexuality on "objects of desire". It's an object of fear, but sexy nonetheless - or even more so - like guns are erotic in a way that is incomprehensible to non-Americans.

So there are simpler ways to commit mass murder, but they don't have the fetish value that a suitcase nuke has as a conversation piece.

If this panic lasts, Jean-Paul Gaultier will put some suitcase nuke valises and handbags in his spring collection.

Hakki

|| -----Original Message-----

|| From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com

|| [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Gar Lipow

|| Sent: 16 Kasým 2001 Cuma 21:23

|| To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com

|| Subject: Re: Suitcase Bombs - don't panic

||

||

|| > my comment was a poke in the ribs. i think the question--as a way of

|| > pointing out how silly someone's concerns are--is, itself, silly.

|| >

||

|| Maybe overly terse. But 911 required a lot preperations (including

|| flying lessons). It was carried out as soon as possible for

|| maximum damage.

||

||

|| And we had people saying that the use of suitcases nukes are inevitable

|| or damn likely -- move out of big cities as soon as possible.

|| It really

|| is worth pointing out that this is inducing panic at something unlikely

|| to happen. On the other hand, I had to spend some time on it,

|| because it

|| is unlikely, not absurd. There are some realistic scenarios as to how

|| this could come about.

||

|| I suspect the missing Russian nukes are either in the hads of

|| govermente

|| rather than less official terrorist organizations. (Most existing

|| governments are also terrorist organizations.) Alternatively, some of

|| them could still be in the hands of Russia, and former Soviet

|| Sattelites. Given the chaos in Russia and former Soviet

|| Colonies, it is

|| also possible that some of them never existed and represent an

|| accounting error.

||

||

|| Yours, Pollyanna

||



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