Osama nuke

Bomb could come by ship. The manhunt for Osama Bin Laden has become more urgent because of growing fears among intelligence officials that he is obsessed with building a nuclear bomb to explode on U.S. soil. Federal intelligence and energy officials worry that Bin Laden’s terrorists will build an improvised nuclear weapon and smuggle it into the U.S., possibly in a container ship, according to well-placed sources. His goal, they believe, is a nuclear hellstorm like the 1945 Hiroshima blast that killed 140,000 Japanese. Unlike smaller-scale attacks, which can be planned and authorized by lower-level leaders, the chain of command in Al Qaeda’s nuke project answers directly to Bin Laden, right-hand man Ayman Al-Zawahiri and an unidentified scientist called “Dr. X,” the sources said. Alarming new statements by a top Al Qaeda lieutenant – in U.S. custody for the past year – add to evidence of Bin Laden’s doomsday bomb ambition. On Feb. 2, captured Al Qaeda planner Abu Zubaydah was asked what type of “new” attack would “surprise” America. “Zubaydah’s first response was nuclear, although he has continually stated that he does not believe that Al Qaeda acquired nuclear weapons,” said a secret Feb. 19 intelligence bulletin obtained by the Daily News. Some in government suspect Al Qaeda has a secret A-bomb lab in Sudan, Pakistan or Yemen. Other officials doubt it. Full Story