"Forget CNN. The power's out."

As if anyone around here needed further proof to keep a few extra water bottles in the trunk (among other things), the following article/link paints a picture mainstream America only whispers about behind closed doors. It details the seconds, minutes, hours and days following a nuclear explosion in downtown DC. One of the "experts" quoted in the story below summed the situation up best. "Everyone hates this conversation, but I get even madder when I see how little we deal with it. There are things we can do, and do well—and it's OK to talk about it."

This person obviously isn't talking about anyone around here...

Surviving a Nuclear Attack on Washington, D.C.
by Sydney J. Freeberg Jr., National Review

WASHINGTON — What if we fail to prevent an attack?

Assume every line of defense against nuclear terrorism is breached: the efforts to lock up nuclear material abroad, to spy out hidden weapons programs, to deter rogue states and capture terrorists, to detect smuggled bombs at the border or downtown — every preventive measure discussed in the previous five installments of this series. Assume someone, somehow, gets all the way through. It only has to happen once.

Assume that this someone puts together a crude atomic bomb, of the “Little Boy” type dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, a heavy and awkward device but one still small enough to fit into a medium-size truck.

Assume that of all the potential targets in the world, from Los Angeles to Moscow, the spot where this someone parks the bomb is on Pennsylvania Avenue, halfway between the White House and the U.S. Capitol.

Assume the bomb goes off. Now what?

Interesting article. Thanks.

If I'm outside the zone of building damage, and outside the fallout area, I'm good. My hurricane prep works for several scenarios that leave my home undamaged. If I'm in the fallout area, and can't leave, I'm in some trouble, since I don't have any way to seal up the house. If I'm in the blast radius.... dunno. Wood frame building. It's either blowing over or burning up.

This subject is more for the aluminum foil hat crowd but I'll let it stay. I find it ironic we worry over a truck sized devise in D.C. because some Paganos from 'beyond the Pale' are the makers. We have entire areas permanently off limits storing nuclear and biochemical waste materials. Truck convoys cross our nation with this stuff and we launched a probe with a plutonium power source-safely, but by the same people that 'got stupid' with 2 shuttles.The 'real' fallout is somebody might read this article and make some basic preparations . Then when something really happens, like a hurricane, blackout or UFO landing they'll be prepared. Just remember, it's klattu-barada- nikto . Say NIKE and the robot zaps you with his lazer map pointer. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Check this out Chris!

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45426

More for the "aluminum foil hat crowd"? From that response, you'd think survival topics on this site are limited to stories of downed bush pilots and wayward boyscouts who disappear in Utah. You'd never know a white paper assessing the biological weapons threat to America, an urban survival primer detailing options for self-protection in a major city and overall preparation guidelines for both natural AND MAN-MADE emergencies live on it, too.

Yeah, we truck our radioactive waste across the country every day, and NASA did launch a plutonium-powered set of eyes into space with no ill effects. The difference here? Those nuclear examples weren't bubble-wrapped in conventional explosives set on ending life.

I once remember reading Doug's critical evaluation of the equipment checklist developed by the Department of Homeland Security and posted on its ready.gov site intended to prepare the country for another terrorist attack. If I'm accused of wearing an aluminum foil hat, it's only because I borrowed mine from Doug.

Funny thing is, I never gave much thought to what to do after a nuclear explosion before. I grew up during the Cold War and the conventional wisdom was that long-term survival after a Soviet attack, except for those living in wilderness areas, was impossible. But with some planning and a little luck, one could make it through an incident like this. Something else to think about I suppose.

Regards, Vince

I think it was a good article and very informative. We also must remember that what we plan to survive is based mostly on were we are and when.
P.S. If the only place I can fit my aluminum foil is on my head than so be it. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Good post IronAnkle. Websites posted by you and mcse were informative and helpful. I think you hit the nail on the head with your responce to what C.K . said <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />. Don't forget , Chris , we are at war. The nuclear and chemical stuff the U.S. has may be secure but what about all the other countries that aren't so secure or are willing to sell stuff to the "terorists"?

Everyone knows that the aluminum foil hats are to keep aliens from reading your mind. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Great article. Very relevant and informative. Thanks for sharing.

The Al Hat is to shield you from the docilization rays emitted by the black helicopters. The only time you can really think for yourself is under at least 10 feet of wet earth (basements are ok) wearing a head covering made from heavy duty aluminum sheet and properly grounded. Amateurs forget the grounding. Very important.

Here's something that might be of some use

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ki4u.com/nuclearsurvival/survival/books/doomsday/5.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.ki4u.com/nuclearsurvival/survival/books/doomsday/index.htm&h=394&w=540&sz=10&hl=en&start=0&sig2=P6N1bkg55p1a9nSVUukpXg&um=1&tbnid=-Gwp1tJdo_KjFM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=132&ei=6w6yRtnEBoiQebujgb8L&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbasement%2Bsurvival%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

"...klattu-barada- nikto..."

I need to watch that again. Netflix probably has it.

Sue

Might have been- but you are replying to a two year old post. :P

Thank God for sane humour.

BTW the rest of the world does not think of itself as being at war and I speak as one who spent the 80s under the shadow of Irish terrorism and someone who was one minute away from death in the Hyde Park bombing and who felt the blast. I was between the soldiers and the bomb and the terrorist's hand was definately on the button by then. He waited a minute more.

I hope that my American friends stop living in mental bunkers. It's sad to see Americans calling themselves Canadians and putting off travel to the rest of the world.

Correct me if I'm wrong but a couple points in rebuttal:

Point 1
Most of the rest of the world are not the declared targets of extremists. The US is. The terrorists today have declared Jihad not against an invading army but against our very way of life.

Point 2
Irish terrorists were specifically trying to get the British out of their country. --Soap box deleted before posting--

And to add, having seen a lot of the rest of the world I'm not that impressed with it...

-Blast

The post may be two years old but the info is still relative to the world, as we know it today. Being new, Shadow_oo00 is only doing what most of us do from time to time looking into old post and updating them with what they consider useful information
Just because it’s old post doesn’t mean we should discourage anyone from going thru them and trying to add to our pool of knowledge with something (hopefully)new.

Risk=likelihood x magnitude

Unless I am in a likely target area, I have more important things to worry about. If I am in a likely target area, the most obvious solution is to leave asap.

Prepping for everyday survival risks is a lot more realistic and achievable for most of us than preparing for the worst that can be thrown at us. I prefer to pace my response to risk to balance my economic viability. In other words, it is easier and less stressful for me to prepare for situations I am likely to encounter than for those things which have a very slim but devastating possibility.

War, this ain't war, this is organized crime. I liken power mongers like Muqtada Al Sadr and Ahdinejad (whatever) to La Familia, just instead of it being a heritage sort of thing, they've veiled it behind religion??? They get their support the same way Capone did, by scaring their neighbors into submission and paying off the neighborhood bully to be their enforcer. They have no national will anywhere behind them. They've replaced the cartels that we bashed around in the 90s. It's like the war on drugs, you don't declare war and you can't fight a war based on ideals. That is just propaganda. The war in Iraq and Afganistan lasted all of what, about 2 weeks? What happens afterwards is just political economic turmoil as everyone tries to position for more power/money/whatever floats your boat.

If we were really at war right now, Damascus, Tehran, and Pyongyang would've been cratered 3 years ago, and Made in China would be a note in the US economics history books.

Thanks raydarkhorse

I'm new and was just reading through all the topics I'm on page 334 right now, I figured when I read something that I knew about or had questions I would reply, was just trying to fit it, BTW what did I say?......lol oh maybe it was the link I posted.

Quite a number of countries, including mine, Australia, are targets. Others including countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Egypt are also targets not just the West

Yes quite right a number of Irish Republicans wanted the British out of Northern Ireland and took political and terrorist action to get them out. Just like in Iraq. Bombs went off in Britain and the public response was measured as was the Britsih governments. It went on for years. So when ais the US pulling out of Iraq?

Probably never. We have too many interests to protect in that region.

I guess the question is "Will Iraq be our ally after we declare victory and switch to occupation ops?" I am guessing that they will.

Heck, how long have we had bases in Japan and Germany after we won WWII? or Korea after that conflict was over (technically we are still at war there).

This idea that we will just pack up all our troops and equipment and go home is unrealistic, even if we were to relinquish all the daily patrols and counter-insurgent actions to the Iraqis tomorrow, we would still keep at least a few thousand troops and supplies in strategically located and well fortified bases. I bet the "IZ" will be controlled by allied forces for at least another decade.

We aren't going anywhere for a long while.

The bases in Germany were maintained in response to the USSR during the Cold War. I don't know what troop level they have maintained since the collapse of the USSR but I'll bet it is much lower even before the troops were needed in Iraq. Part of the reason they are still there is what would pulling them out do to the local economy of a NATO ally. Look at how the representatives lobbied to influence which bases were closed in the 90's.

I didn't mean to imply that they weren't being hit. Countries like Egypt are getting hit at least partly because they are allied with us. The extremists call the West and in particular the US the Great Satan.



The plan has always been to get a good handle on the security problems then work on the political side. Last I'd really listened to the news, we are doing exactly that. Something like 30,000 of the militants in Iraq have switched sides in the fight against Al Quaida (sp?).

Yes, NATO was a political necessity. I suppose there will always be an excuse for us to keep our presence worldwide at one place or another. If not Germany, then Kazakstan, or Uzbekistan, or Sudan, or Antartcica, or Diego Garcia. So long as we continue to believe we have to be the world police and welfare agency, we will always feel the need to "protect our interests abroad".

Well going in to Iraq may have been a mistake, since Saddam was pretty much able to keep his unruly countrymen under control, secular or fundamentalist.

Always wondered why a non-fundamentalist guy in a homburg, who likes whiskey, lets women wear what they like, has Christian friends and colleagues and who owns some neat bolt action rifles (potential NRA member here) was toppled to put in a corrupt puppet democracy giving a bunch of fundamentalist fanatics the opportunity to destabilize the region.

Going into Afghanistan was understandable but Iraq....?

Just hope the US has the political will to to last the long haul and help the Iraqis sort out the mess.

We would've left the SOD alone, if he'd have just stayed the heck outta Kuwait. But no, he just had to go where he wasn't supposed to. He was the best thing we had to deal with Iran until he got too greedy. Unfortunately, Kuwait was a more important asset than Iraq to us at the time, and then he got defiant with Bush Sr and had to be punished...

I don't think going to Iraq was such a mistake, it was afterwards, when we pandered to the Shi'ite crowd and let Iran and Syria do what they pleased that was the big mistake. I think most Iraqis were not fundamentalists before we invaded, but as the terrorism takes it's toll, it is becoming more and more like Palestine. People will only live with desperation for so long before they start grabbing for any support they can get.

See my next forum topic.

If we weren't who would be? If the US started contributing to the UN in relation to our representation it'd be a serious cut to their finances. They currently expect us to foot 22% of their budget and 1/4 of the peacekeeping budget. They shouldn't ask us to pay for fixing the world's problems & expect us not to act like it.

True. But it'll definitely be more than a few thousand. More like tens of thousands (not counting private contractors). With all this talk of withdrawl no politicians or pundits mention there are up to four permanent "mega bases" in various stages of construction around the country. Balad air base, Al-Asad, etc. Not to mention the vatican sized, billion dollar embassy. You don't invest those kinds of resources if you plan on leaving.