ISIS now has nuclear materials...

[dutch508]

Bosonic (2,455 posts) http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014843116

Iraq rebels 'seize nuclear materials'


Source: BBC

Iraq has warned the UN that Sunni militants have seized nuclear materials used for scientific research at a university in the city of Mosul.

In a letter seen by Reuters, Iraq's envoy to the UN said nearly 40kg (88lb) of uranium compounds were seized.

The letter appealed for international help to "stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad".

US officials reportedly played down the threat, saying the materials were not believed to be enriched uranium.  <-------- US officials being Berry's stooges...

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28240140

It doesn't matter! it's the JV team. AQ on the run. We killed OBL.

DeSwiss (23,556 posts)
2. !

''US officials reportedly played down the threat, saying the materials were not believed to be enriched uranium.''

 - If it's not enriching, the US ain't interested. Besides, we have all kinds of radioactive shit just lying around here in Amurka, so it might be kinda hard to tell if they used it......

delrem (4,871 posts)
4. I see no good end to this.

I see the US doubling-down on supporting so-called "moderate rebels" in the civil war that the US caused, with its "leading from behind, Friends of Syria" operations using Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and Erdogan of Turkey.

Quite frankly, I think USians are out of their minds. And I think it's criminal.

How can USians, top down and in a totally "bipartisan" way, think that continuing this PNAC war can benefit the USA?

You ****ers have me at the end of the rope.

littlemissmartypants (3,919 posts)
9. We bombed Mesopotamia.

But she said that "any loss of regulatory control over nuclear and other radioactive materials is a cause for concern".

sofa king (9,169 posts)
16. I'm surprised Cheney hasn't claimed success in finding the WMDs

It's low grade nuke stuff. Not harmless. Nothing to see here. What difference does it make, anyway?

Bosonic (2,455 posts)
17. Nuclear Material Seized by Rebels in Iraq Is ‘Low-Grade,’ U.N. Says

A dirty bomb is a speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the dispersal agent/conventional explosion with radioactive material, serving primarily as an area denial device against civilians. It is however not to be confused with a nuclear explosion, such as a fission bomb, which by releasing nuclear energy produces blast effects far in excess of what is achievable by the use of conventional explosives.

Though a radiological dispersal device (RDD) would be designed to disperse radioactive material over a large area, a bomb that uses conventional explosives and produces a blast wave would be far more lethal to people than the hazard posed by radioactive material that may be mixed with the explosive.[1] At levels created from probable sources, not enough radiation would be present to cause severe illness or death. A test explosion and subsequent calculations done by the United States Department of Energy found that assuming nothing is done to clean up the affected area and everyone stays in the affected area for one year, the radiation exposure would be "fairly high", but not fatal.[2][3] Recent analysis of the nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl disaster confirms this, showing that the effect on many people in the surrounding area, although not those in close proximity, was almost negligible.[4]

Since a dirty bomb is unlikely to cause many deaths by radiation exposure, many do not consider this to be a weapon of mass destruction.[2] Its purpose would presumably be to create psychological, not physical, harm through ignorance, mass panic, and terror. For this reason dirty bombs are sometimes called "weapons of mass disruption". Additionally, containment and decontamination of thousands of victims, as well as decontamination of the affected area might require considerable time and expense, rendering areas partly unusable and causing economic damage.

[BlueStateSaint]

Anyone want to start a pool on how long before the world finds out where that stuff wound up?

[obumazombie]

I would love to see all the stupid muzzies what got exposed to the radioactive material get radiation poisoning. Let them pray to allah to get healed.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Anyone want to start a pool on how long before the world finds out where that stuff wound up?

More likely that the Iranians will just buy it off them, saving lots of time, effort, and expense for their own uranium enrichment plants.

[thundley4]

I'm more concerned about the fact that radioactive materials seem to be easy to steal in Mexico.

http://news.yahoo.com/radioactive-material-stolen-mexico-officials-174602973.html

That makes twice in less than a year.

[GOBUCKS]

They stole material that's available in colleges and hospitals all over the world.

If they blew it up in the United States, the greatest damage would be done by the press and the EPA.