RE: Al-Qaida may have nuclear weapons

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@AECL.CA>]

I think this article mixes two unrelated issues:

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union but in 1994 it

agreed to send 1900 nuclear warheads to Russia and sign up to the Nuclear

Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

After the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, a former Russian National Security

Adviser, Alexander Lebed, said that up to 100 portable suitcase-sized bombs

were unaccounted for. 



The weapons which Ukraine inherited were warheads mounted on

intercontinental ballistic missiles, not spooky suitcase bombs. All were

returned to Russia, as far as I know.

As for the latter, the following was published in the media some time ago:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/11/08/rec.nuclear.attack/index.html

<http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/11/08/rec.nuclear.attack/index.html>  

Nuclear attack: Now anything seems possible

November 9, 2001 Posted: 4:50 AM EST (0950 GMT)

By Jamie Allen CNN 

<snip>

One source of fears is the former Soviet Union. When it collapsed, some of

its nuclear weapons -- including those that apparently could be carried in a

suitcase or briefcase -- went unaccounted for in subsequent inventories,

according to Bruce Blair, president of the Center for Defense Information,

an independent military research organization. 

Gen. Alexander Lebed, the Russian national security chief under President

Boris Yeltsin, completed an inventory that "came up short by something

between 50 and 100 suitcases," Blair said. "No one has really, persuasively

explained the discrepancy between Lebed's count and what the Russian

government said, which was, 'Don't worry, nothing's missing.'" 

John Lepingwell, a nuclear expert with the Monterey Institute of

International Studies, doesn't give any credence to a suitcase-bomb threat. 

"There is no good evidence that any rebel group or terrorist has these," he

told Time magazine. 

<end quote>

 

Jaro 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Charly Frey [mailto:cfrey@ssi-group.net]

Sent: Monday February 09, 2004 3:01 PM

To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: Al-Qaida may have nuclear weapons







Al-Qaida may have nuclear weapons







Sunday 08 February 2004, 22:05 Makka Time, 19:05 GMT  



A pan-Arab newspaper has said al-Qaida bought tactical nuclear weapons from

Ukraine in 1998 and is storing them in safe places for possible use. 







There was no independent corroboration of the report on Sunday, which

appeared in the newspaper al-Hayat under an Islamabad dateline and cited

sources close to the Islamist network.



The newspaper claimed al-Qaida bought the weapons in suitcases in a deal

arranged when Ukrainian scientists visited the Afghan city of Kandahar in

1998. 



The city was then a stronghold of a Taliban government that refused to hand

over Usama bin Ladin for trial abroad. 

    

The report claims al-Qaida could use the weapons inside the United States or

anywhere else should the network face a "crushing blow" which threatened its

existence.



Feasible



Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union but in 1994 it

agreed to send 1900 nuclear warheads to Russia and sign up to the Nuclear

Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

    

After the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, a former Russian National Security

Adviser, Alexander Lebed, said that up to 100 portable suitcase-sized bombs

were unaccounted for. 



Moscow has denied such weapons existed, but Lebed said each one was

equivalent to 1000 tons of TNT and could kill as many as 100,000 people. 

    

Al-Hayat did not say how many weapons al-Qaida bought or say who exactly had

provided them. 



The United States has repeatedly said its worst fear is that a group like

al-Qaida might obtain access to weapons of mass destruction and use them

against the American people