Author Topic: Pakistans Nukes (Read 1389 times)

Hangtime · « **on:** October 09, 2001, 03:50:00 PM »

Just an idle thought..

Pakistan's military, particularly the officer corps; has a definite Pro-Taliban bent.

As the war escalates, unrest in Pakistan is increasing. It's only a matter of time till the Police are unable (or unwilling) to control the rioting, and the Army is called in.

When that happens, what will the Pakistan Army do?

Question: Who controls Pakistans Nukes? Where are they? Who's guarding them? What type of delivery systems do they have?

Ruh roh.

AKSWulfe · « **Reply #1 on:** October 09, 2001, 04:29:00 PM »

Highly doubt they are long range ballistic missles capable of reaching the US.

I suppose they could launch them into Afghanistan, maybe they'll take out Bin Laden with the Taliban and that part of the conflict is history...
-SW

Serapis · « **Reply #2 on:** October 09, 2001, 05:19:00 PM »

It has to go without saying that somewhere in a dark place is a full attack plan to take out those weapons. I bet they are as well tracked and targeted as anyting in Afganistan.

Charon

Sorrow[S=A] · « **Reply #3 on:** October 09, 2001, 06:22:00 PM »

Move to disagree there Hang. Pakistan's military has the opposite bend. They are vehemenantly anti-Islamic Fundamentalist and have wished for years they could go into Pakistans northern border to wipe out the Taliban's interference in the region.

The Taliban has been grabbing land up there under thier noses for years now. And just look at the Kashmir area to know what they think of subtle land grabs by neighbours.

Problem is there is a large segment of people and govermental influence in the country for the Taliban. This has been a pain in their bellybutton for awhile now- probably one of the reasons they are enjoying siding with the US. Now they have an excuse to dispose of annoying Islamic Clerics and protesters and refugees who have dispersed into Pakistan itself from the border.

Typically Pakistan's military goverment hates competition for power...

Sorrow

mrfish · « **Reply #4 on:** October 09, 2001, 08:04:00 PM »

i studied them a bit in my nuclear technologies class. the best thing they have going from what i recall is an intermediate range icbm with a range of about 2000 kilometers.

in other words, if they launched from islamabad, they could barely hit the southern tip of india...maybe not even that.

i knew the pakistanis had skipped the (archaic processing methods)plutonium bomb stage and were working in quite advanced ways with boosted uranium at about 40 kilotons(maybe in the 30s) but i was shocked to find out recently that they might have a hydrogen bomb! i don't know if that's true or not , i'm pretty sure india's tests failed, but...

pu239 and ur235 bombs are ugly at a few dozen kilotons, but a hydrogen bomb at a few dozen megatons is a friggin nightmare hell on earth. seriously - a plutonium bomb make take out downtown manhatten, but a hydrogen bomb would kill people in new jersey and all 5 burroughs too.

scary toejam...this ain't your grandad's nukes, it's a real nightmare. hydrogen bombs work from fusion rather than fission (though fissile materials start the reaction blah blah blah)- they work like a small star for a split second releasing unimaginable energy.

it's squealing stupid to even have them laying around - i've been a proponent of disarmament for ages. they would spell the end of us if enough of em got loose and right now there are literally tens of thousands of em sitting around getting old. i don't think we fully realize what we've been playing with.

the universe is constantly in upheaval with those forces and we have a nice stable oasis on earth - now we want to bring that kind of energy here and put it at the other end of a human finger?

one word: dinosaurs...

newguy2 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 09, 2001, 08:12:00 PM »

There was a report on the news last night or the night before, that the Pakistans prez had to sit on two divisional commanders beacuse of their pro Taliban views. Also in the same report, an item that a Pakistan division had fought with the Taliban against the northern guys at one point. I'd be worried about the nukes. No I don't have links.

funkedup · « **Reply #6 on:** October 09, 2001, 08:13:00 PM »

What Charon and Sorrow said.

R4M · « **Reply #7 on:** October 09, 2001, 09:10:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by mrfish:
i studied them a bit in my nuclear technologies class. the best thing they have going from what i recall is an intermediate range icbm with a range of about 2000 kilometers.

There is no such thing as an "intermediate range ICBM"

ICBM----Inter Continental Ballistic Missile

With a range of 2000km, I dont think is too much "intercontinental"

Just nitpicking a bit hehehe.

Hangtime · « **Reply #8 on:** October 09, 2001, 09:14:00 PM »

Yep.. I just heard that Musharraf has just canned a pair of Generals that were pro-taliban.. and from what I can gather the majority of his military is by and large loyal.. but will it remain so??.. and who's actually sitting on the missile keys?

You do realize our CVBG's are in easy range of Muslim controlled Nukes, as are the bases we are gonna be using up north in the three 'stans'.

The other thing that has me wondering 'WTF!!!' is the reported Eubola outbreak among the border refugee camps..

Quote

A virus similar to Ebola has reportedly hit Afghan refugees on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, prompting fears about biological warfare and potential risks to U.S. troops. (stratfor.com)

*shudder* I hope like hell THAT ain't true.

mrfish · « **Reply #9 on:** October 09, 2001, 09:26:00 PM »

yes - technically the icbm range starts at 5,500 kilometers and thus the missile i spoke of is in the irbm category but so what.

what a stupid argument to start - no wonder people don't like you.

Hangtime · « **Reply #10 on:** October 09, 2001, 10:04:00 PM »

Yah.

Lets nuke him.

AM Radio News brief: Big light in sky, slated to appear in Spain. Sonic booms scare camels of minority groups in Bumdiddlyistan and there's hamburger allllll over the highway in Mystic, Conneticut. Good evening; those are the headlines, and now for the rumors behind the news...

Broes · « **Reply #11 on:** October 10, 2001, 02:17:00 AM »

Who needs and ICBM if you can put a boat into NYC harbour with a nuke in it's hull and have some wacco push a red button.

That's what is scaring me... All those missing Ruski warheads...

Broes

Gh0stFT · « **Reply #12 on:** October 10, 2001, 03:16:00 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Broes:
All those missing Ruski warheads...

Broes there was a docu on TV about exsactly this missing russian suit-case bombs. Approx 50 are missing, each have a blast energy of 1-100 Kilotons TNT. This dont sound much, if we speak about Megatons (1000000 Kilotons) Bombs.
But its enough to destroy a part of a City, the Horishima Bomb was a 20 Kilotons TNT.
The Bomb have to explode right over a CIty for its full blast radius. Such suit-case bomb fired on ground have only 1/3 blast radius.

Tumor · « **Reply #13 on:** October 10, 2001, 04:57:00 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Sorrow[S=A]:
Move to disagree there Hang. Pakistan's military has the opposite bend. They are vehemenantly anti-Islamic Fundamentalist and have wished for years they could go into Pakistans northern border to wipe out the Taliban's interference in the region.

The Taliban has been grabbing land up there under thier noses for years now. And just look at the Kashmir area to know what they think of subtle land grabs by neighbours.

Problem is there is a large segment of people and govermental influence in the country for the Taliban. This has been a pain in their bellybutton for awhile now- probably one of the reasons they are enjoying siding with the US. Now they have an excuse to dispose of annoying Islamic Clerics and protesters and refugees who have dispersed into Pakistan itself from the border.

Typically Pakistan's military goverment hates competition for power...

Sorrow

Sorrow you are so wrong! The important people in Pakistan are extremely pro-Taliban. Fortuneately for us, Pakistan is also dirt poor and also somewhat "smart". Pakistan will side openly with whomever they deem to be the most beneficial to themselves, but make no mistake, the Paki's will stab the U.S./Allies in the back at the first hint it will benefit them. India is a far better "friend" to the U.S. and her interests than Pakistan will ever be. Another fortunate point, India hates Pakistan and vice versa, and India has nukes, better nukes than Pakistan. That's the United States trump card at the moment, something not likely to change any time soon.
Pakistan is definately a fair weather friend to the U.S.

Tumor

Hangtime · « **Reply #14 on:** October 10, 2001, 08:35:00 AM »

Here we have an interesting set of circumstances.. military tactical/strategic nukes complete with an irbm delivery system are in Paskistani Nationalist hands. For now.

Should the command/control of those weapons fall into 'taliban' or al Queida hands, will they use them against American Military Targets within their reach.. such as the Fleet or even Diego Garcia...

Old 'missing' russki 'suitcase' nukes are one thing.. (the whole deal is highly dubious) almost nothing can be done to defend against them, their existence is questionable, and if the terrorists had 'em they woulda used 'em by now.. yes??

So.. the larger danger remains... Pakistans Nukes.