People often associate the word bomb with the idea of a weapon of mass destruction, but in reality fear can be a weapon in of itself. Such is the case of the dirty bomb, it is a weapon aimed at instilling fear in the local population thus making it a weapon of mass disruption. The similarities between a dirty bomb and an improvised explosive device (IED) are remarkable. In our modern wars of Iraq, Afghanistan and several other theaters of operations the IED has been the weapon of choice for insurgents. They are cheap to make and can be constructed from left over explosives and shrapnel producing elements, these same qualities are shared by the dirty bombs. The primary and often overlooked effect is the fear that it instills in the groups …show more content…
Gunmen overpowered the driver in the early-morning hours of last Monday in Hidalgo state about 30 miles north of the capital and made off with the truck and its cargo. (Wilkinson, 2013)
This event goes to show how a simple truck hijacking could have produced a large amount of materials for several dirty bombs. Fortunately in this case law enforcement acted quickly detaining the individuals and recovering the radioactive waste. The explosive component is no impossible task to attain either, gun powder from Wal-Mart will do. There have been documented occurrences where the exploding component of a simple dirty bomb was comprised of traditional dynamite (King, 2004). That shows, that any terrorist organization with the least amount of motivation could easily gather the materials required to cause destruction. The ease of acquiring materials for a dirty bomb is dwarfed by the simplicity that it takes to construct the device. As mentioned earlier individuals looking to cause destruction among the local population coupled with the basic knowledge of explosives can create a device to create such a weapon. The construction of a dirty bomb can be as simple as combining an explosive component, a fuse, screws and or nails along with the radioactive material all enclosed in a case.
The reason that the dirty bomb is such an imminent threat is because of the ease of making it. If terrorist wanted
Have you ever been really nervous because if you don't win a race to build the world most dangerous weapon you are in a critical condition of dying? The best part of the book is when Japan refuses to surrender. The only option is to drop atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It was intelligently planned to drop bombs there because it would, of course, scare many. Not only that but Nagasaki and Hiroshima were really unarmed for something like the world's most dangerous weapon in the world (the atomic bomb). In the book The Bomb by, Steve Sheinkin writes about how most countries in the world is in a race to build the first atomic bomb. The U.S. successfully makes the bomb and ends the war. The author Steve Sheinkin fully describes how the conflict
Bomb was a good book. It taught me about the race to build the bomb and to
While hijacked airplanes on 9/11 caused the most fatalities of any single terrorist incident, the majority of terrorist attacks are carried out by conventional explosives and secondary devices. This is a broad category that includes incendiary devices, pressure bombs, car bombs, and any other explosive device. These weapons are low cost, low tech, and easy to construct. Out of the five CBRNE categories, explosives are by far the most likely hazard to be encountered (FEMA,
soon the website had a list of all the people they wanted to kill and the amount of guns they had in their possession. The two friends started thinking about a plan to kill as many people as they could. They began to post videos explaining what they wanted to do and that they planned to rival the Oklahoma bombing that happened a few years before them. Another one of their plans was taking over a jetliner and crashing it into a building across the country in New York city. Many times on the same website they stated their plans to flee the state and even country. The final plan they decided on was to rig bombs in the High School cafeteria and exploding them when it was at capacity, then as the survivors ran out of the school they would shoot at the mass of frantic bodies, as first responders arrived on the scene they would then set off bombs rigged to cars in the parking lot. Once they settled on this plan they began preparing. In the nearby hills they retreated to begin target practicing and learning how to set off their homemade explosives. The pair had many weapons in their possession including, Intratec TEC-DC9, Hi-point 995 carbine, Savage 67H pump-action shotgun, Stevens 311D double barreled sawed-off shotgun, 99 explosive devices, and 4 knives. The most unsettling part is that they were able to make the explosives by a quick search on the internet. Everything was set for these two teenagers to execute a plan of mass murder and to
On April 19, 1995 a box truck filled with explosives was parked outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building located in Oklahoma City. Shortly after 9 am the explosives in the truck were detonated resulting in over a third of the federal building collapsing and another 300 buildings received damage. Emergency crews and law enforcement quickly realized this was a deliberate and well planned attack. It was an attack that they would soon discover to be the largest act of domestic terrorism carried out in the United States that killed a total of 168 people, a number that also included 19 children, and injured hundreds more (FBI, n.d.).
The Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995 is known to be the “worst act of homegrown [domestic] terrorism in the nation’s history” (FBI, 2010). On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh, parked a rented box truck outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. No one knew that, “inside the vehicle was a powerful bomb made out of a deadly cocktail of agricultural fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other chemicals” (FBI, 2010). Before he exited the vehicle and headed towards his getaway car, he ignited two timed fuses – at exactly 9:02AM, the bomb exploded. The explosion killed 168 people, 19 of those being children, and injured nearly 650 (Scott, 2013).
President Truman stood in the oval office full of many advisors, but was truly alone ready to make the hardest decision, which would change the world forever. Is dropping the bomb the right decision for the president to make?
Most famously used in the incineration of 64 Japanese cities in the1940’s, napalm scorched more to death than in the atomic explosions in Nagasaki and Hiroshima (Bernard). Many still pose the question, why napalm instead of atomic weapons? During the destruction of the Japanese landscape, each atomic detonation had a price tag of $13.5 billion while each napalm destruction was only a slim $83,000 per metropolis (Norris). Most recently, during the siege of Aleppo, the Russian and Syrian governments alike, have been accused of using these incendiary bombs in the rebel occupied area. During this siege, when civilians “see barrels falling from the sky they hope they are explosives and not napalm”
It is said that dirty bombs are also a threat. These bombs are very explosive
As Muslim extremists battle for supremacy, it has hindered al Qaeda's climb to power. However, the current dominate group, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may be an even more dangerous foe. ISIS openly claimed in 2014, that they had retrieved 40 kilograms of uranium from the Iraqi university in Mosul. (Haines 2014, para.2) The uranium taken is not weapons grade, but could be used to construct a "dirty bomb". The means and will are in place, now it is only a matter of time until means and will are combined with expertise and execution of
Also the power of the blast of the bomb being bided on is much stronger then the nuclear bomb set off in Japan during World War 2 “The scientist who created the bomb said the power of the bomb would be bigger then anything seen in war and the scientist will only sell it to the country who promises to use it” (Thor 34), this shows that the country who gets the bomb will drop the bomb and most likely start a war because most countries have many allies and the scientist probably wants a war so that a country will hire him and let him continue his research with bombs and researching and finding a way to make bombs more powerful then the other bomb he created, which in the end would not be good thing because nuclear warfare would have many casualties in it. The bomb is significant because if it is not stopped and found it could lead to a war no one wants.
IEDs, also known, as improvised explosive devices are homemade bombs; “that are intended for destructive use in nonmilitary applications” (281). IEDs can be delivered in many forms, it is up to the imagination of the perpetrator on how the IEDs will be delivered, which can be by car, trucks, motorcycles, bicycle, and many other forms. In this case, the plan of the international terrorist organization of planting IEDs to bomb a building is similar to the one that took place in Oklahoma City, back in 1995. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing was a big tragedy, it resulted in 168 deaths, more than 800 injuries, and it even destroyed building around the area. Every building in Oklahoma rocked, but it destroyed and damaged buildings
An IED, or improvised explosive device, is a bomb or explosive that is made using improvised materials. Often called a homemade bomb, they are cheap and very easy to construct with proper training. They are commonly found in Middle Eastern countries like Syria and Afghanistan, but have also been used in attacks like the 2015 Paris Terror Attacks or the Boston Marathon Bombing. In the beginning of The Other Side of The Sky, Farah Ahmedi steps on an IED on her way to school and loses a leg because of it (43). IEDs are dangerous tool for terrorists, both foreign and domestic and without proper countermeasures, they could get out of hand.
Weapons of mass destruction are those nuclear, biological, chemical, radiological, and high explosive weapons “that are capable of producing major destruction, mass casualties, and significant infrastructure damage” (Taylor & Swanson, 2016 P.317). The agent I choose is the biological agent of botulinum toxin. This agent can be a lethal toxin; it can cause paralysis in a person that is exposed. Once this agent is liquefied, it is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Terrorist can fill bombs with botulinum toxins and even missiles. This agent can immobilize many citizens in a community or area; this agent can even kill
The abundance of nuclear weapons or radiological dispersal devices that terrorist groups have is perhaps one of the most terrifying threats to U.S. security. Radiological dispersal devices (RDD) are also known as dirty bombs. They are made of radioactive material combined with conventional explosives. They are intended to use explosive strength to scatter radioactive material over a large area (Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDD) / Dirty Bombs, 2009). Around the world, there are a lot of sources of radioactive material that are not sheltered or not accounted for. Dishonest nations and terrorist groups can get hold of these materials for dirty bombs. These volatile weapons may primarily kill a few people in the direct area of the blast but are utilized primarily to create psychological rather than physical damage by stirring up panic and terror. Their utilization would also consequence in expensive cleanup for decontamination (Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDD) / Dirty Bombs, 2009).