Ashcroft: U.S. foiled 'dirty' bomb attack

[DinoDoc]

This is all CNN has on the story at the moment:

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today that the U.S. has captured a "known terrorist" with connections to al Qaeda who was plotting to build and detonate a radioactive "dirty" bomb in the United States. The man, a U.S. citizen who was captured last month as he flew into Chicago's O'Hare Airport from Pakistan, has been turned over to the Defense Department as an "enemy combatant."

1) Is it even legal to turn over a US citizen captured on US soil over to the military?

2) If the charges are in fact true, what would the implications have been had he actually manged to carry out the plot?

[chequita guevara]

1) I don't think so. Posse Comitatus Act forbids the use of the military as a police.

2) It could have made a lot of people quite sick, but the debris from a dirty bomb ought to be fairly easy to clean up.

I wonder how he was to get his hands on the radioactives.

[Dr. Stiby]

Re: Ashcroft: U.S. foiled 'dirty' bomb attack

Originally posted by DinoDoc
This is all CNN has on the story at the moment:

Apparently, this guy was betrayed by one of Al-Qaidas leaders Abu Zabaydah.
Good job by the FBI preventing this attack!

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
I wonder how he was to get his hands on the radioactives.

They might have been planning on stealing nuclear waste from a power plant.

[DinoDoc]

I wonder if Ming knows anymore about this as the guys was caught in his neck of the woods.

[DanS]

This would be the "perfect" case for a treason trial, if ever there was one...

[The Mad Monk]

I believe this one meets the constitutional definition of "treason".

[SpencerH]

Lots of material has gone missing from Soviet sources.

The implications of such an attack could be far worse than che's

"It could have made a lot of people quite sick, but the debris from a dirty bomb ought to be fairly easy to clean up."

it depends on what the material is, how much is used, the weather, and where its detonated.

[DanS]

Re question #2, I would be interested in knowing as well. Not exactly located in the safest place for this...

I was just talking with somebody this weekend about this and I said that this was probably the biggest "fear" that the administration has. A radiological weapon.

[SpencerH]

I left out that a speedy response (within hours) to such an attack will reduce casualties by reducing any exposure. Unfortunately, I doubt that the possibility of such a rapid response exists within every metropolitan area.

[Mercator]

It's all just a secret government plot to keep the people afraid and thus justify the war on terrorism and the introduction of laws that restrict personal freedom and privacy.

[DanS]

Mercator: How do you figure?

[- Groucho -]

Mercator is just on an anti-US rant today.

[DanS]

Of course he is. Just nipping it in the bud.

[Ned]

The location Washington would have really disrupted the US though. The degree of disruption would depend on how long it would be before normal work routines could resume. Anyone have any idea?