Hiroshima

On the anniversary of Hiroshima, it is important to remember the weapon that destroyed that city:

A Uranium bomb (which weighed in at over 4 & 1/2 tons) nicknamed 'Little Boy' was dropped on Hiroshima August 6th, 1945... The point of total vaporization from the blast measured one half of a mile in diameter. Total destruction ranged at one mile in diameter. Severe blast damage carried as far as two miles in diameter. At two and a half miles, everything flammable in the area burned. The remaining area of the blast zone was riddled with serious blazes that stretched out to the final edge at a little over three miles in diameter....Estimates from physicists who have studied each atomic explosion state that the bomb used had utilized only 1/10th of 1 percent of (its) respective explosive capabilities.

A better designed bomb might look something like this:

Radius of destructive circle: 1.7 miles

At the center lies a crater 200 feet deep and 1000 feet in diameter. The rim of this crater is 1,000 feet wide and is composed of highly radioactive soil and debris.

Nothing recognizable remains within about 3,200 feet (0.6 miles) from the center, except, perhaps, the remains of some buildings' foundations. At 1.7 miles, only some of the strongest buildings -- those made of reinforced, poured concrete -- are still standing. Ninety-eight percent of the population in this area are dead.

These are important things for people to understand today.

Why?

The distance from Capitol Hill to the White House is 1.5 miles.

A well timed explosion could take out the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, the Senate Pro Temporare and possibly even the Secretary of State.

The FBI, Department of the Treasury and the Justice Department - all vaporized.

What would that do to our government? Our economy? In the confusion, the value of the dollar would plummet and the world economy would be sent into a new form of the dark ages.

It might take generations to recover, if we could do it at all.

We find it hard to consider these things possible.

It is possible, though it would be difficult to pull off.

And the dream of doing this - or something like it - is what motivates Al Qaeda.

Defusing these terrorists is the most important issue in our world today.

Bar none.

- posted by total @ 8/06/2004 05:35:00 AM .