Friday, April 28, 2006

Questionable credibility, or head in the sand

From the G2 bulletin via Jhad Watch:

Hamid Mir, the only journalist to interview Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in the wake of 9/11, has confirmed that al-Qaida has obtained nuclear suitcase weapons from the Russian black market, that the weapons were tested in Kabul in 2000 and that may have already been forward deployed to the United States.

"If you think that my information and analysis about bin Laden's location is correct," Mir said, "then please don't underestimate my analysis about his nuclear threat also."

Mir said that he met with an Egyptian engineer last week who had lost an eye after one of bin Laden's nuclear tests in Kunar. The Pakistani journalist said that the encounter with the engineer greatly disturbed and depressed him since it provided further assurance that a nuclear nightmare for America is about to dawn.

Mir believes that an "American Hiroshima" will occur as soon as the U.S. launches an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. "Al-Qaida and Iran," he says, "have a long, secret relationship."

That relationship dates back to June 21, 1996, when bin Laden attended a terror summit in Tehran. The gathering attracted terror leaders from various places throughout the world, including Ramadan Shallah (the Palestinian Islamic Jihad), Ahmad Salah (Egyptian Islamic Jihad), Imad al-Alami and Mustafa al-Liddawi (HAMAS), Ahmad Jibril (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), Abdallah Ocalan (the Kurdish People Party), Muhammad Ali Ahmad (al Qaeda), and Imad Mugniyah (Hezbollah). The summit resulted in the creation of the "Committee of Three" that would meet on a regular basis for the "coordination, planning, and execution of attacks" against the United States and Israel. The committee members were Ahmad Salah, Imad Mugniyah and bin Laden.

Mir's position that al-Qaida's nuclear weapons may have already been forward deployed to the United States confirms the report of Sharif al-Masri, a key al-Qaida operative who was arrested in Pakistan in November 2000.

Al Masri, an Egyptian national with ties to al-Zawahiri, said that al-Qaida had made arrangements to smuggle nuclear weapons and supplies to Mexico, From Mexico, he said, the weapons were to be transported across the border and into the United States with the help of a Latino street gang.

Mir also maintains that numerous sleeper agents are in place in major cities throughout the United States to prepare for the nuclear holocaust. Many of these agents, he says, are Algerians and Chechens who obtained European passports and are posing as Christian and Jews...

Farah is not alwyas correct, and neither is Hamid Mir, nor is he a neutral observer, but....

5 comments:

Pastorius said...

If they had tested a nuclear weapon in Kabul, wouldn't we have noticed? And, wouldn't their sleeper cells have to know how to maintain them?

I'm not saying I don't necessarily believe this. It's just that it seems there are holes in logic here.

kevin said...

I would assume a test run to be done underground, either in a bunker or a very deep cave. But that doesn't mean the rumour is true.

Pastorius said...

Makes sense, Kevin. I'm just not sure that radiation would not have been expelled at readable levels from anywhere the dumb al Qaeda guys would have had the sense to explode the thing.

What do you think, Epa? Are they smart enough to know how to hide a nuclear test explosion?

Anonymous said...

Guys, even a suitcase nuke would cause a tremendous level of damage. Also, we detect nuclear tests using seismographs. We use them, the Russians use them, and probably everybody else with an interest uses them. It'd be awful hard to spoof such detectors (read impossible) given how many there are, and how sensitive.

My guess is that he's talking out his arse, at least on testing.

-Clark

The Anti-Jihadist said...

And if the AQ guys have these alleged nukes in the states, what is stopping them from detonating by this time tomorrow? After all, 9-11 happened with no pretext required beyond the usual "Palestinian" nonsense.

So on those grounds, I am disinclined to believe these stories. If AQ had nukes in the US, they would have detonated by now.